Cheating the Bet
by Ryebread321
Summary: Alice Marie Longbottom is the good girl in school. She is in Gryffindor like her father, she has great friends, good marks, is Hogwarts's good girl, and is nice to everyone. The only expception to this rule; Albus Severus Potter, quidditch star, Hogwarts golden boy, enemy of Alice and... great kisser?
1. Heat of the Moment

I paced around the dimly lit corridors, not even pretending to continue my prefect patrols, wondering how this whole thing got started. At first I was arguing animatedly with that gigantic arse, Albus Severus Potter (which is what I love to call him when I'm especially annoyed at him because it truly is a hideous name) like always, then we just got closer and closer and then… I shuddered at the thought.

It's not _my_ fault. I couldn't help myself. Besides, _he _kissed _me_ first! And it's not like I could control myself, being a hormonal, teenage girl. Plus, it _was_ very good, I suppose. Brilliant, you could even say, even though I have nothing to compare it to, but from what I heard from my friends and dorm-mates, it would be classified as amazing. At the moment I can almost feel Potter's lips smashing down on mine and his hands…

_Whoa there! _I thought. _Stop thinking about Potter like that, Alice Marie Longbottom! You know better. You hate him, remember?_

How did it get to this, you might ask? Well, here it goes. Enjoy, as I unfortunately did.

**Flashback to patrols:**

_"Wow, Longbottom. Never been snogged at sixteen? It's pitiful. It must be horrifying for you, but I don't blame all the blokes. Who wants to snog a troll anyway?" taunted Potter with his trademark smirk plastered on his face, enjoying my misery, as we watched the halls and argued without thinking, which is what got me into this situation._

_ I felt my face burn up and anger seared inside of me, fueling my next words._

_ "Well, at least I am not some man-whore who sleeps around with any and everybody I want and then leaves the girl like she's nothing! At least I am not some spoiled arse who lives off of Daddy-dearest's fame and fortune, using it as an excuse to do all of the horrible and disgusting things you do," I yelled, his smirk disappeared and mine appeared as I mentioned the daddy comment. It was always a nice one to bring out when I was particularly raging mad._

_ I could see that I had gotten to him and just for a moment, I let the smug smile grow larger on my face and I flipped my long, dirty blonde hair. His jaw was clenched and his hands were curled up tightly into fists by his sides, shaking in rage. But his eyes, sparkling emerald green in the corridor torchlight, only displayed hurt and sadness, not the fury and hatred that his body portrayed. _

_I paused for a moment, feeling confused and guilty, but only for a second, as the look in his eyes was gone when I peeked back at him, so I tried to ignore it, but the suspicion that I was missing something wouldn't go away. It lingered in my brain, staying at the edge of my thoughts so that I wasn't focusing on it, but it was there, taunting me like an itch I could scratch._

_ "What!?" I screamed at him. "Tired of being a sleaze? I bet you couldn't go one month without running off with one of your bimbos to a broom closet." Potter's smirk found its way back onto his face, making me think that he knew something I didn't. His face looked triumphant and giddy mixed with his usual self-conceit and arrogance._

_ "Yeah? You want to take that bet? Let's say twenty galleons?" Then Potter reached out his hand towards mine to shake._

_ "You are going down, Potter. That twenty galleons is all mine," I said with complete confidence, narrowing my hazel eyes, and then, I extended my hand._

_**Attention readers: This is where I make my mistake. This is where shit hits the fan.**_

_ I took his hand in mine and shook it. Almost immediately, I felt a shock. Not a static-electricity shock or a muggle-hand-buzzer-shocking-toy shock. It was like I felt all of the electricity and chemistry flow between us, which is absolutely ridiculous because there is nothing between us except our joined hands and the air we breathe... and, yet, as I looked into Potter's eyes, I knew he felt the same way about it. He felt that shock and the attraction that came with and I couldn't stop it for one second._

_ In an instant, he pulled me toward him and crushed his soft lips to mine. They fit perfectly together. _

_He was snogging me like there was no tomorrow and I was doing the exact same thing back, not once thinking about the consequences of snogging the life out of my sworn mortal enemy during prefect patrols, which were carried out to stop this sort of activity. _

_He dropped his hand from mine and, quickly, they made their way to my hips, fingers spreading out as wide as they possibly could, covering my hips fully, and pulling me closer to him, our heated bodies pressed against each other. My fingers seemed to have a mind of their own as they entangled in his jet black, messy, just-woke-up hair. Before I even knew what had happened, my back was against the corridor wall and then, as hastily as it started, we were done. I didn't know how, but it was over, and I couldn't help thinking about why I didn't push him away. Although, at the same time, I wanted to pull him back to me and continue where we left off._

_ Potter backed away, so that we were standing about three feet apart from each other. Both of us were staring at the other with no words spoken between us, breathing heavily. My heart was racing and, though I couldn't prove it, I would bet his was, too. Again, his eyes confused me with a hopeful gleam in them, but, like always, it was gone in on the spot. Potter was an expert at hiding his emotions, keeping them from my searching gaze which roamed over his face like a spotlight, even though I shouldn't care what he was thinking or feeling._

_ All of a sudden, the realization of what I had just done hit me like the Hogwarts Express._

_ "No one can know," I pleaded frantically. "No one, Potter, you got that?" Al—I mean Potter just nodded, looking vaguely like he was disappointed, but that was just a crazy thought and I couldn't be certain about his expressions anyways. I wasn't even supposed to give a shite about them._

_ Then, as if nothing had happened between us, he started smirking again. I felt relief for a moment at the normalcy of it. Maybe it would all go back to like it was before and no one would be the wiser, but then he opened his gigantic mouth._

_ "Well, Longbottom, I guess you had your first snog," he said, snickering at my horrified face, though it didn't look as though his heart was in the teasing. Potter, at that moment, proceeded to turn around, with his hands tucked lazily in his pockets, and walk down the corridor into the darkness, leaving me to think about how much I would love to hate that kiss and how much I hate to love it. I couldn't deny it or lie to myself about it. I wanted more; more of him._

_ When he was out of sight, I slid down the wall and sat with my head between my knees and my hands gripped tightly together around my legs, and tried to slow my racing heart. I wondered, for a second, if he felt that way, as well. I wondered if he felt the attraction, but then I dismissed the thought. Why would Potter think about me in that way?_

_ He constantly ignored me as a child and as soon as we started going to Hogwarts, Potter made it his goal to annoy and irritate me as much as possible. It was like he had completely changed from being the shy, meek Potter, into arse extraordinaire. _

_ Besides, attraction was all it was, nothing more. I never denied that he was drop dead gorgeous and we got caught up in the heat of the moment, right? Or maybe we were just exhausted because of studying and, then, on top of all that, we had to patrol the halls of Hogwarts because of our prefect duties. I mean, I _did_ feel tired. Yeah, that must be it. There was nothing more to this. I hated him and he hated me. That is just how it works and nothing would change. How could I even fall for an arrogant, womanizing prat like Potter anyway?_

_ Famous last words_


	2. Oops I Did It Again

I awoke the next morning with the remembrance of Potter's kiss. I just couldn't get it out of my head, or my dreams, even.

Last night, my subconscious could only think of his hands on my waist and his lips on mine. My body and my mind were traitorous against me as I enjoyed the dreams. Some part of my brain told me to stop, but the rest, the majority of me, told me to keep going with the betrayal of my whole belief system.

I hurried into the shower, trying to wash away my new and constant thoughts of Potter. I quickly changed into my uniform, brushed out my hair, and put on a tad of makeup before meeting Rose in the common room, where she was reading a book.

_Excuse my sarcasm, but what a shocker._

Rose took after her mother, Hermione. She was always studying, always reading. She made it her goal to get top marks and when exams came around, she went as wild as her bright red mane of frizzy hair. Despite Rose's endless studying, I loved her.

She was my best friend. She was sweet and managed to be honest without hurting people's feelings. Rose also really cared about what was going on in the lives of people she loved. Albeit, she _was_ a little nosey, but everybody has their faults. All in all, I couldn't ask for better, nor would I want to.

"Hey, Al," greeted Rose teasingly. I narrowed my eyes and glared at her, but she just smirked at me mockingly. She knows that I hate when she calls me "Al" because that is Potter's nickname. Rose loves it because she thinks we "would make an amazing couple and we don't hate each other, but just have sexual tension". Her words, not mine. She would jump for joy if she learned about last night.

_Last night… _I thought dreamily. _No, no, no. Bad Alice._

"Don't even go there, Rosy-Posey," I counteracted. She stuck her tongue out at me, but then continued to taunt me.

"Oh you know you and Al will get together eventually. Just think about it Albus and Alice. Al and Al. I just love it!" she mocked again, laughing at my pained expression and clapping her hands maniacally. She was reminiscent of a muggle mad scientist with her evil cackle and genius mind, though nix the bushy mustache.

Once she finally stopped taking the mickey out of me, we headed to the Great Hall.

Upon getting there, we plunked ourselves down on the wooden benches and began eating our breakfasts only to be interrupted by none other than Potter.

"Hello, Rosy-Posey," he said in a sing-song voice to his favorite cousin. Then, his cheerful greetings stopped. "Longbottom".

"Albus Severus Potter," I replied dully. He winced and glared at me, but was interrupted by Rose smacking him on the shoulder with the back of her hand.

"You know how I hate that nickname, Al. Don't make me use your full name, like Alice does," she threatened before digging into her breakfast like a dog. (She gained her father's ravenous appetite.) It shut him up very fast. Unfortunately, he turned his unwanted attention back to me.

"Hey, Longbottom. Did you do anything fun last night?" he asked me knowingly. I mirrored his cocky smirk, but my fingernails dug into the wooden table leaving scratch marks.

"No, _actually_, yesterday was quite dull and unexciting. I could even describe it as horrible," I said to him, putting on my best innocent face. The smile that he was smugly wearing vanished and I could almost see his large ego deflate into a limp balloon. Too bad it would be pumped back up by the endless supply of admirers he had. I could already see some younger Gryffindor girls giggling and pointing at him from the other end of the table.

"Well, my evening wasn't so great either," he countered angrily.

"Yeah, well, mine sucked! It was bloody awful," I spat back at him. I know what you're thinking and I agree; it _was_ a great comeback… Don't argue with me.

Rose looked from my face to Potter's repeatedly in a very confused fashion.

"I'm just going to go now…," she said, looking at us like we were both nutters. "You do… whatever it is you were doing. Carry on." She made a shooing motion with her hand.

Finally, she left the Great Hall and headed, I'm assuming, to the library. She always does, though lately she's been skipping meals to leave and it's entirely abnormal for Rose, since she usually survives with five large meals per day. I pondered this for a moment, but my thoughts were halted.

After she was gone, Potter grabbed my arm and dragged me into the corridors. (He didn't even let me finish my food! I really wanted those waffles!) I don't know how far we went, but he stopped pulling me when we arrived in an abandoned classroom. The desks were stacked against the walls, covered with a light layer of dust and we were standing in the middle of the room with Potter looking at me intensely.

In a flash, exactly like last night, he was snogging me. And again, all my willpower seemed to vanish into thin air and my hands flew up into his shaggy, ebony hair. We backed up against the dusty desks and he started to kiss my jawbone and my neck. I had to bite my tongue to hold in a moan. To my disappointment or pleasure (depending on how you look at it) his hands didn't remain on my hips as they did before. They slowly made their way up my shirt and were on the small of my back and he was back to attacking my lips.

This time, I couldn't hold in the moan and I could feel his lips turn up against mine as I did.

Potter, then, stopped snogging me, which I hated and hated myself for hating. _Curse hormones!_ He smirked widely at me and my guaranteed disheveled appearance.

"Now, you can never say that I sucked," he said matter-of-factly and strutted to the door of the classroom with renewed swagger. Before leaving he turned around and looked straight at me. "And your bet, from last night, is on." Then he left the room into the hallway full of people who had no idea what had happened right beside them.

It took me a few minutes to return my pounding heart rate back to normal and to slow my breathing down. By the time I reached the Transfiguration room for class, I was about ten minutes late.

"Well, Mrs. Longbottom, how nice of you to join us," said Professor McGonagall, who still taught Transfiguration, even though she was also the Headmistress, because she seemed to love teaching. I must say I'm glad she did because even though she is a strict teacher, she's fair and great at what she does. Plus, though she'll deny it if you ask her, she gives the Gryffindor house a little more leeway because she used to be the head of it.

"You will join Mr. Filch tonight right after dinner for detention. Take your seat by Ms. Weasley," she said, pointing to a seat in the front row of the classroom, where a red-headed Rose sat, studiously taking notes.

I nodded slightly and then I went to go sit down by Rose, only to see Potter smirking at me as I walked down the aisle between the desks. He obviously enjoyed knowing the reason that I was late, I'm sure. That bloody prat.

I slid into the seat beside Rose and she looked over at me with pursed lips and a disappointed expression.

"Where were you and why were you so late?" I hoped she didn't notice the faint blush that spread onto my cheeks. I hushed her and pretended like I was being as studious as her, ignoring any further questions.

For the rest of class I sat in a furious silence as Potter tossed wads of paper at me. Each parchment piece had a moving cartoon on it that either showed me being turned into a toad or being struck by lightning or, when those didn't cause a good enough reaction, one cartoon that depicted our abandoned classroom indiscretion.

I turned around when McGonagall wasn't looking and flipped him the bird. That satisfied me enough to get through the rest of class.

After Transfiguration, I had double Potions with Slughorn, who didn't make my day any better by fawning over Potter, as always. Though, I'm in Slug Club, as well (Slughorn saw me give a particularly nasty Slytherin a bloody brilliant body bind spell, if I do say so myself), Potter is his golden boy because he is bloody fantastic at Potions, as much as I hate to admit it and I _do_ hate to admit it.

I stood in front of my table beside Rose with a bubbling, and quite smelly, potion brewing in front of me while I glared at Potter and his admiring Professor.

"Well done, Albus, my boy. You have your father's talent for potions, I see. You'll get in to a N.E.W.T. class for sure," Slughorn praised. I pictured Potter's head growing larger, inflating like a balloon, and snickered as I imagined taking a pin to his face and popping his arrogance.

"I plan on it, Professor. This is my favorite class and I can't wait until next year," he schmoozed. What a bloody kiss arse.

I made a disgusted sound and Potter turned to glare at me. I returned his glare by rubbing my nose with my fist. He was such a brown-noser.

After spending the majority of the class with his favorite student, Slughorn made his way around to me and Rose.

"Brilliant, as always, Ms. Weasley and Ms. Longbottom. Taking after your mother, are we, Weasley?" he asked with a chuckle. Rose gave a sickly sweet, albeit completely fake, smile.

"My brains, maybe, but I'm told I look like my father." Slughorn looked confused.

"I don't recall him." He changed the subject. "Will I be seeing you both at my dinner next week?" I shook my head before Rose lost her temper. She hated that Slughorn chose favorites and didn't remember her dad. She was a daddy's girl.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we have to study. We can't get behind with N.E.W.T.'s coming next year," I said trying to sound apologetic. Professor Slughorn frowned.

"Oh, one night of fun won't get you behind. Next week, I'll see you there." He left before he could hear no again, though we still weren't planning on arriving.

The rest of my day was uneventful and I was glad to be sitting down for dinner, even if it meant that detention was afterwards.

"Ugh," I grumbled. "You're cousin is the absolute worst, Rose. He is such a prat." She rolled her eyes at me. I bet you can guess that she's heard this a _few_ times before… Okay, maybe a little more than a few times… Okay, I say it every single day. Happy now?

"What did he do _this_ time?" she asked, knowing exactly which cousin I meant and sounding tired of hearing all of my complaints about Potter, I'm sure.

"He just made me late in Transfiguration today by—," I hesitated as Lily, Al's little sister plopped down next to me. I couldn't tell them, at least, not right now. I didn't want anybody else to find out by overhearing me. I could imagine the hype about it. Albus Potter and Alice Longbottom become the modern day Lily and James. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to shudder or scoff at the idea.

"—nothing," I finished lamely. _Smooth move, Alice. _I thought. Rose looked at me quizzically, one of her eyebrows going up, but Lily remained oblivious to our conversation.

"Anything you want to tell me, Allie?" she asked, looking slightly suspicious of me.

"Tell you what?" questioned Lily, suddenly interested in our conversation. Like Rose, Lily was slightly nosey, too. She was smart and wicked funny and though she cared about her family and friends, she just wanted to know what we were talking about because of her overwhelming curiosity and pure entertainment. Lily Potter and her cousin, Rose's brother, Hugo, were the biggest pranksters since Fred and George went to Hogwarts.

"I'll talk to you about it later, Rose. I don't feel like saying anything about it right now." Rose raised her eyebrows.

"You're telling me you _don't_ want to complain about Al? Are you okay?" she said in mock shock, putting her hand up to my forehead. We three giggled a little bit. "Well, if you're sure you're okay. I've got to go to the library."

I stared at her with disbelief. Rose was trying to skip another meal to go to the library? This was coming from the same girl that ate food like it was the last thing she would get. My best friend chowed down.

"I know you like to get good marks, Rose, but you love food, too. Are you sure _you _are okay? You've never missed a meal as long as I've known you." Rose hesitated and Lily looked surprised at her apparent loss of appetite.

"Look, Alice, Lily, you _cannot_ tell anybody, especially the rest of my family. You know how they can get, particularly the guys," she said pleadingly with her hands together.

"Of course not. I won't tell a soul, Rose, you know that," I assured her, waving my hand, urging her to continue.

"Absolutely," Lily agreed, holding out her pinky. "Pinky promise, Rosey. I completely understand how you feel." Rose took it and looked at us gratefully.

"I'm meeting somebody at the library. I really like him, Allie. I'll tell you more about it later tonight, but I have to go. He's waiting for me and I don't want to be late," she said with a smile on her face and bolted out of the Great Hall without even finishing her dinner and leaving me to wonder about her mysterious, new boyfriend.

After she left, I decided it might be time to go to detention. _Simply smashing. _I thought. Note my spectacular use of sarcasm.

With a wave to Lily, who had moved to sit by Hugo, when I told her I had to leave, I left the Great Hall.

The last I saw them; they were motioning about something going boom. I really didn't want to know their plot. Plausible deniability is wondrous.

I walked down the corridor to Filch's office thinking about what my punishment might be. They were never too bad, but I really hated cleaning things without magic.

Once I finally got there, he told me to hurry on to the trophy room and help out one of the other "delinquents", as he called us, clean the trophies and the case without the use of magic. To my disappointment, he took my wand for the time being and I went on my way. I always hope he forgets to grab it, but he never does.

When I got to the trophy room, I walked in without seeing who was to be cleaning with me. How stupid of me.

"Hey, Longbottom," said the most annoying voice in the world. I could almost see the typical trademark smirk and I heard his arrogant snicker. "Long time, no see."

I spun around quickly to face the mocking voice.

"Go get stuffed, Potter!" I spat at him.

This was going to be the single longest detention of my entire life. No exaggeration.


	3. Everybody Talks

I dragged myself up to my dorm, exhausted, and no, it wasn't the cleaning that had me in a tizzy. No, it was Potter that was so exhausting. I fell backwards onto my bed, kicked off my shoes and stared at the scarlet drapery that was my canopy, remembering the detention.

**Flashback to the detention:**

_"No need to be cheeky, Longbottom. I was just making polite, casual conversation," Potter said, holding his hands up in a sign of surrender and waving his dirty rag in the air, but still smirking at me. I rolled my eyes and refrained from saying anything. _Just one hour. I can get through an hour without becoming a murderer… I hope._I thought to myself. _

_ We both promptly got to work, grabbing trophies off the shelves and polishing them until they shined like new instead of seeming as though they were fifty years old, which some were. The best part of it all was that we worked in total silence… for about half an hour. Then, Potter had to hear his own voice._

_ "So, Longbottom, I have a proposition for you," he started, stopping his cleaning. I could feel him looking at me, but I didn't dare meet his eyes because I kept thinking about his kiss, so instead, I started cleaning the trophy from 1985 more intently than before. "I'm not allowed to snog any of my 'bimbos' as you call them because of the bet, though you shouldn't because they have a real talent for—," I cut him off with a gag._

_ "Get to the point, Potter. I don't want to know about your sexcapades," I spat at him, motioning with my hands for him to hurry it up and get to the point. I wouldn't make it through the hour. Mum is going to be wicked mad when she finds me in Azkaban._

_ "Jealous, Longbottom?"_

_ "Bite me, Potter," I growled. His smirk got bigger._

_ "I didn't know you liked that, Longbottom, but I'm game," Potter replied, chuckling at my narrowed, glaring eyes. I threw a sponge at him, which he dodged using his quidditch reflexes. He continued to ramble on._

_"Right, anyways, if I'm not allowed to snog them as part of the bet, what say you to becoming Al Potter's personal snog buddy extraordinaire? Because let's face it; I liked snogging you and judging from the noises you made," he said, his ego growing by the minute and my blush getting redder by the minute. _Damn my pale skin. _"You enjoyed snogging me, too. Plus, you're not a bimbo, so it doesn't count against the bet. It's a win-win situation." I looked at him in disbelief. That was the closest thing to a compliment that has ever come out of his highly talented mouth, and his 'proposition' was the most dense._

_ "Are you out of your mind, Potter? Plus I meant snogging everyone. You've already lost, so pay up."_

_ "Come on. No one has to know and maybe if you were snogged more, you wouldn't be such a prude," he retorted, ignoring the part about losing the bet._

_ "I am not a prude!" I argued, although even I couldn't help thinking that the lady doth protest too much, me thinks. "And you _did_ lose."_

_ "No, I didn't. You're a prude, not a bimbo."_

Wow, that was another almost compliment. How sweet.

_ "I am not!" I shrieked childishly. I probably should have thought of something better than that._

_"Prove it, Alice," he said smirking, which I'm sure he thought was sexy, but it wasn't. Okay, maybe it was a little bit, but I didn't pay that much mind and it wasn't until afterwards that I remembered that he called me "Alice" because at that moment, I had this insatiable need to prove him wrong._

_ I slowly made my way towards him, and then stopped only when we were inches apart. At first I just kissed him softly, unsure of what to do, but then I felt his hands touch my cheeks and I deepened it. Once we started full on snogging, I put my hands on his chest, grabbing his shirt collar and bringing him closer to me. Then, my hands gradually made their way up to his untidy, black hair. His found their way to my waist, pulling me closer and slowly making their way up the back of my shirt._

_ Regrettably… I mean thankfully, that was the time that Professor McGonagall decided to walk in and tell us that detention was over._

_ "What in the world…? You know what? I don't want to know," she said, shaking her head. "Don't let it happen again, you two. Especially you, Ms. Longbottom." She walked out of the room, leaving us to stand there awkwardly with our eyes looking anywhere, but at each other._

_ "So…," said Potter. "I'll take that as a yes." He held out his hand. "Snog buddies?"_

_ For the second time, I shook his hand and I knew I shouldn't have. It seems to always lead to trouble. Again I felt the shocking sensation, but did my best to ignore it. I figured that now I wouldn't be so hungry for his kiss. Or maybe he was like a drug and he would leave me wanting more and more._

_ "I'll owl you if I happen to want you and same for you," he said casually, as if it were a business venture, hands in his pockets, and walked away as if it was no big deal. The only way I could tell that this affected him was when he kept wiggling his fingers and clenching his hand in his pocket, leaving me to speculate on how deeply the electricity affected him. _

**Back to the present:**

I left a few minutes after him, retrieved my wand from Filch, who muttered something about "in his day" and "strung up by their toes" (I really didn't want to know), and headed up to my dorm to wait for Rose to be done with her Head Girl duties, which took her presumably longer because of mine and Potter's detentions. She would have my head for that, I'm sure.

While I waited I chatted with the other girls of my dorm. My dorm-mates consisted of Rose (of course) whose bed was right next to mine, right against the wall, Aileen Finnegan, who was laying down on her bed against the opposite wall, Sophia "Sophie" Wood, who slept in a bed next to Aileen, and Rose's cousin, Roxanne (but she likes to be called Roxy), who sat on her bed right next to Rose's, square in the middle. They were very nice and fun to talk to, but when first year had started, Rose and I had clicked, while Roxy and the other girls became good friends.

Don't get me wrong, Rose and Roxy love each other, but just have grew apart a little bit since Hogwarts. Rose threw herself into her studies and took multiple classes that she even had to use a time turner for (But don't tell anybody. It's a secret. Shh.), while Roxy dedicated all of her free time to practicing for her position on the Gryffindor quidditch team as chaser. She wasn't a bad student, but she didn't go the extra mile, or extra one hundred miles, as Rose did. She made up for this by being one of the best chasers that Hogwarts has seen since her aunt, Ginny Weasley.

Rose waltzed into the room at about ten o'clock, which was a little later than would be expected of her Head Girl duties, which she got sixth year because of her excellent marks and dedication.

Despite being Head Girl, she still rooms with the other sixth years because the Head Boy, Jerry Boot, is a seventh year Ravenclaw that has a thing for her and bores her out of her mind with lots of did-you-know facts, which were _supposed_ to be impressive. (Yeah, not so much.) She always says that if he stopped that, he might actually get a date. He was good looking, but once he began talking, most girls started sleeping.

She sat down on her bed and sighed happily. Roxanne had a look of realization on her face and she grinned.

"Who is he, Rose?" she said, leaning towards Rose expectantly as if making sure she didn't miss what Rose would say, even though their beds were right by each other's. A few strands of her long black hair fell in her dark-skinned face; the rest was up in a messy bun at the top of her head. Aileen did the same, trying to get close to hear Rose's juicy news, her blue eyes sparkling with curiosity. I sat on the edge of my bed to listen and even sleepy Sophia roused from sleep to hear about Rose's new love interest, though she remained curled up in her blankets.

"Well," she said blushing. "You promise you won't tell, you guys, especially you, Roxy? No one else in our family can know." We all held out our pinkies and swore. What can I say? We're kids at heart.

"I was with…" she said, whispering the name quietly so that no one could hear.

"Come on, Rose, don't leave us hanging," I urged her on.

"Scorpius Malfoy," she said smiling slightly and her face reddening even more. We all started talking at once, gushing about the whole idea of her forbidden boyfriend and talking about how she liked him since last year, you know, being extreme girly-girls at that point.

"This is so great, Rosy," said Roxy. "But your dad is going to kill you. Uncle Ron will probably burst a blood vessel in his forehead and his face will match his hair." Roxy started to laugh, but Rose's face paled.

"Nice going, Roxanne," said Aileen with Roxy glaring at her for her use of Roxy's full name. "She's probably going to freak out now." Then, turning to Rose she said, "Don't let it bother you, Rose. Your dad will just have to accept that you like Scorpius, even if he is a Malfoy. Why would he not? He's you father and he loves you, despite some petty schoolboy rivalry." I nodded excessively in agreement.

"He's seems like a nice guy and if he treats you well, go for it. You seem really happy, Rose," said Sophie groggily, trying to brush out her blond rat's nest that she got from sleeping. Rose's face got a little more of her color back, but I could see she was still worried.

"And he's fit," added Aileen, our boy crazy roommate. Her constant stream of boyfriends and endless flirting were a part of her and she noticed and ogled any good looking blokes. We all rolled our eyes at her. "What? It's true. Everyone else here was thinking it, so I just said it." All of us giggled and nodded in agreement. Well, she's right. It _is_ true.

"Enough about me," Rose said smiling still with an evil glint in her eyes. "Little Miss Alice wanted to complain about my cousin today at dinner, but stopped. Would you like to enlighten us on what happened, Al? The blush on your face wasn't too telling." I started blushing like crazy, unable to stop and I could feel the heat in my face. I didn't even tell her off for the "Al" thing.

"What happened with you and Al? Did you finally get together?" squealed Roxy with a gasp.

"Well, of course they did. Look at her blushing. It's about time. You can practically feel the sexual tension in the air when they argue," added in Aileen who mimed grabbing at the air. I just glared at her and stuck out my tongue. Thankfully, Sophie was back asleep so that I didn't have the mickey taken out of me by another person, though I thought I saw a small smile on her sleepy face.

"We are _not_ together. It was nothing; just a mistake. Can we drop it now?" I said rapidly, trying to get off the topic of me and Potter. Just by bring up the idea of us dating reminded me of our earlier mistake and how he had called me Alice. What was that? Rose snapped me out of my reveries.

"Oh, but something _did_ happen, didn't it? You can't just leave us hanging now that you've said something," Rose whined, mimicking my words. The other two girls nodded seriously, agreeing with my traitorous friend.

"Can't you let it go? All we did was kiss. Big deal," I said without thinking and quickly clapped my hands over my mouth before I spewed out anything else, but the damage was already done. Well, bloody hell.

All at once the three girls started exclaiming things that I couldn't make out in the noise. Sophie decided to wake up and Aileen filled her in on the details and she proceeded to join in on the babbling. _Curse you two. _I said in my head.

"When did this happen?" they all questioned simultaneously.

"Well, it was just last night while we were patrolling. It didn't mean anything," I said, trying to make it sound casual.

"How was it?" asked Sophie, but before I could answer to tell her it was horrid and foul (I may be lying a bit, but who would know?) Rose cut in.

"I thought you said he caused you to be late for Transfiguration. What happened then?" My eyes widened. _Sod it. _I thought. _Why can't I keep my mouth shut? _Realizing that I was caught I fessed up and told them about that snog, too, though I kept out the part about me… um… moaning. That would definitely be TMI.

"Twice? See, I knew you guys liked each other!" exclaimed Rose.

"Are you _sure_ those were the only times?" interrogated Aileen looking highly suspicious, but before I could make a fool out of myself, I pretended to yawn loudly, stretching my arms upward.

"Wow, it's getting pretty late and I'm ready to hit the hay. You should, too, Roxanne, and Aileen. Don't you guys have quidditch in the morning? Captain James wouldn't want his chaser and beater to be tired on the field. Well, nighty night," I said quickly and curled up in my scarlet and gold colored blankets so that no one could get another word in otherwise.

My plan worked when I heard Roxy and Aileen grumbled about James and his brutal practices, and then got into bed. Not long after that I heard Rose's nose whistling. Success!

_Tomorrow,_ I thought, _is going to be hell. _Then, I closed my eyes, ready for a good night's sleep after all that I dealt with today.

I should have known that that wasn't possible when, about an hour after I had gotten to sleep, I awoke when I heard an owl tapping at my window. I had a hunch about who was sending me a letter this late and I kept telling myself that I was mad, though I couldn't stop myself from experiencing a little excitement.

My stomach was doing flips and my heart was beating so fast that I could feel it in my chest and I was sure that my mates would hear it. I made sure the other girls were fast asleep (and they were, thank Merlin) before grabbing the letter with shaking hands.

Just as I guessed, the sender was my one and only official snog buddy, my enemy with benefits (though not _those_ kind of benefits, if you know what I mean), Potter, wanting to have our first official get together… at twelve o'clock at night.

"Bloody prat," I grumbled quietly.

Curiosity got the best of me. I could just open the letter. _Where's the harm in that? _I mused. _What could possibly go wrong?_


	4. Up All Night

**_Longbottom—_**

**_Meet me in the astronomy tower ASAP. I figured that you couldn't go a few hours without snogging me._**

**_-Potter _**

I shook my head in amazement and could just see him smirking haughtily as he wrote and sent the parchment. He really expected me to go to the astronomy tower to snog him at this time. It was the middle of the night! I crumpled up the letter into a ball and incinerated it with my wand, destroying the evidence. I couldn't have my dorm-mates find out about mine and Potter's… arrangement; I guess it would be called. I rummaged through my trunk and pulled out parchment and a quill.

**_Potter—_**

**_Hell no._**

**_-Longbottom_**

I gave the note to his owl and then I crawled back into the comfort of my warm and cozy bed and closed my eyes.

Just as sleep was starting to overcome me, I felt someone grab my shoulder and shake me awake. I was about to scream when a hand covered my mouth. I looked up from the hand to find the face that went with it, only to see Potter looking at me with an amused expression.

"Calm down, Longbottom. It's just me. Nice pajamas, by the way," My smirk senses were tingling and I could almost feel his gaze on my body. It made my face go red.

My P.J.'s barely covered me, seeing as it was summer. I had red shorts that go about mid-thigh and had yellow draw-strings. My shirt was a form-fitting tank.

"Can we go to the astronomy tower now?" asked Potter, sounding exasperated when I didn't race like the wind to the tower, as I'm sure he expected me to do. I glared up at him, but couldn't say anything as his hand was still over my mouth.

"Bloody hell, Potter, how did you even get up here? You should have slid down the slide," I whispered sharply when his hand left my mouth. Potter just smirked and looked down at his feet where, instead of human feet, there were cat paws.

"Uncle George gave me these shoes that transfigure my feet for a short time. They're only prototypes and they'll be unusable soon, but they work for the time being. The stairs just thought I was a cat, not a boy. Impressed?" He asked arrogantly.

"Not really, Potter, I always figured that you had a big ego because of your small feet," I said matching his smirk. He just scowled.

"I do _not_ have small feet," he mumbled childishly, obviously catching my innuendo. "_Now,_ can we go to the astronomy tower?"

"I don't know if you know this, Potter, but it is way after curfew and my father is a professor here. If I get caught, I'm beyond screwed. You must be mental," I hissed, thinking about what would happen if my dad caught me after curfew, snogging Potter no less.

Instead of replying to me, Potter hovered over me and then snogged me, leaving me breathless and unable to argue as he grabbed a cloak that was lying on the floor at his cat feet. He pulled me up from my bed and held close to him; my back squeezed against his muscular chest, and threw it over us.

"Now we're invisible, but it's not sound proof so shut it, Longbottom," he instructed and directed me down the stairs and out the portrait hole.

I was surprised when we managed to make it to the tower without being caught, especially with me tripping over my feet every few seconds. I convinced myself that it was because there was no space to walk, not because I was pressed against Potter's fit, quidditch abs. He whipped the cloak over our heads and his hands cupped my face, pulling it closer to his. We were millimeters from another snogging session that invaded my every unconscious dream (and even some conscious day dreams) since the first one occurred. Then we were interrupted.

Mrs. Norris waltzed in on our secret rendezvous, meowing and hissing horribly, alerting her owner to our presence. Potter scrambled for the cloak as we heard Mr. Filch's footsteps coming up the stairs and his obnoxious wheezing as he exerted himself too much in pursuit of we "troublemakers". I clung on to Potter closely as he threw the invisibility cloak on over us just in time.

Seconds after we disappeared, the red-faced and sweaty Mr. Filch arrived in the astronomy tower looking at the exact spot where we were under the cloak. His eyes scanned the area before he wheezed his way back down the stairs of the tower, grumbling to his cat while she followed him.

"That was too close, Potter," I said angrily. "That cannot happen again." I looked up at his face to see him nod in agreement.

It was at that moment that I noticed what an intimate position we were in. My arms were the only thing separating us, palms flat against his chest. His were wrapped around me gently, one hand stroking my hair. I felt myself blush. He must have noticed it, as well, because his hands went immediately down to his sides and I tucked mine behind my back. We avoided each other's gazes. We had snogged before, but this was different; gentle and caring.

Potter proceeded to take off the cloak and pull out a blank piece of old and worn out parchment and point his wand at it.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," he announced, leaving me a little confused and not just about his statement, but about his tender behavior. I pondered this until I saw a map of Hogwarts appear on the parchment.

"We'll have to stay up here for a little while," he sighed. "Filch is down at the bottom of the stairs, probably trying to catch his breath. Did you hear his panting? I thought a dog was coming up here." I giggled slightly. Potter looked at me with a genuine smile. _Why would he do that? _I thought. _Though, his smile _is _quite attractive._

"You have a nice laugh," he breathed. It was so quiet that I almost thought that I imagined it. Almost. I couldn't help it; my cheeks reddened again.

"Erm… Thanks," I said unintelligently, still looking anywhere but up at his face. _The tower wall was quite lovely. The way that the stones were crumbling was quite enchanting; almost as enchanting as Potter's… No! I'm still watching the wall, not Potter._

"You're… erm… welcome," he replied, sounding as uncomfortable as I felt. "He's still there. We might be here for a while. Want to sit down?" He gestured to a space on the floor.

I nodded and with our backs against the wall we slid down and sat by each other, our shoulders brushing briefly, electricity zapping us.

"Can I…?" I trailed off awkwardly, pointing to the map in his hands. He silently passed it over. Upon getting it from him, I searched the sixth year Gryffindor girl's dorm and everybody was still asleep, thank Merlin. I looked over the boy's dorm, where all of Al's friends were dozing, too. Then, my eyes wandered down the various halls, where I could see teachers roaming, Filch still standing at the bottom of the stairs, and a Hufflepuff couple kissing in an abandoned classroom.

"How did you get this? This is amazing," I wondered aloud in awe, setting the map on his lap which was covered in snitch-patterned pajama bottoms. Potter smiled with obvious pride.

"It was my granddad's. James Potter I and the rest of the marauders, as they called themselves, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew, made it. It shows everyone. Where they are, what they're doing, every minute of every day. I've done thousands of pranks with this since I got it in my fifth year after James decided he was 'too mature to pull pranks anymore', but between you and me, he was trying to impress a girl. I've never even been caught," he said smugly, using finger quotations when talking about his brother.

"Except for earlier today? You were in detention with me. Did you get caught then?" I questioned. Potter's face turned pink and he looked away from me, embarrassed.

"It was nothing. Just drop it," he said quickly, not meeting my eyes. After a few minutes he added with another genuine smile, "You know? This is the longest we've talked without arguing since first year. Why do we argue with each other all the time anyways? I forgot." It took me a minute to think about it.

_Why was his smile so damn distracting?_

"Well, you're a prat, so why wouldn't I hate you?" I said smirking, but in a joking tone. I switched back to serious mode. "I don't know, Potter," I sighed, thinking back to when he changed from mute to mortal enemy in my eyes. "I think it started on the boat ride when you threw my toad in the Black Lake." Potter chuckled throwing his head back.

"Oh, yeah. Then, you pushed me in and said that if one toad was in the lake, then the other toad should go in there, too," said Potter, still laughing. I couldn't help it; his laughter was infectious. My stomach muscles hurt and I found myself laying my head on Potter's shoulder. Once the hilarity died down, I looked up at him to see him looking at me intensely. I blushed and took a sneak peek at the map, where I found that Filch was gone from the bottom of the stairs and walking down the hall opposite of the one that we needed to get back to our dorms.

"It looks like we can leave now. Filch left," I said, pointing to it. He snatched the map from my hands and looked at it intently.

"Give me a minute to find out how best to get back to the common room without running into teachers. Even if we're invisible, we can't be too careful." He viewed it for about a minute before his eyes stopped on an area in the library and his face darkened.

"Potter?" I asked cautiously. "What's going…?" I trailed off.

I looked at the spot that had blackened his gaze and found that Rose had snuck off to the library to be with Scorpius and they were unmistakably kissing.

"Is that Rose? My cousin with Malfoy? I'll kill him," he growled. He crumpled the map in his hands slightly before trying to go down to the library to break them up. I had to stop him. I stepped in front of him, blocking the exit.

"Potter, don't," I said warningly. "She really likes him. Don't you want her to be happy?" He only looked angrier.

"You knew? You knew about Rose and that… that… prick? That filth? Why didn't you tell me? His father was a Death Eater! She is not allowed to date _him_!" he exclaimed. I cast muffliato on the door.

"Don't get mad at me, Potter, for being a good friend! I just want Rose to be happy. It's what you should want. You don't have to be such an arse! Anyways, you don't even know him, so how could you know that he's anything like his father?" I yelled, my hands clenched into fists.

"Because he is! Families like his don't change, Longbottom. I would know, since you're still a bumbling idiot like your father," he said coldly. I could feel tears in my eyes and I lashed out, slapping him across the face.

"Well, you're wrong because you're nothing like your father. _He_ was a good man and the savior of the wizarding world. What have you done? That's right; nothing! You just live off of his fame and use it as an excuse to be an arsehole, but really you're just sad and can't stand anyone to be happy, not even your favorite cousin!" I screamed in his face. Then, I calmed down and looked at him with no expressions and said emotionlessly, "You're nothing, Potter. You're dead to me." I thought I saw hurt in his eyes before I spun around and rushed down the stairs. I ran aimlessly down corridors until I finally made it to the Gryffindor common room, only escaping getting caught by pure luck, tears freely running down my face.

When I finally calmed down enough to be able to make it quietly into bed, I lied there staring at the scarlet canopy.

I pretended to be asleep when Rose made her way back into the room a few minutes after I did. I silently cast muffliato and curled up in my bed to cry. I was hurt. Potter had gone too far when he insulted my dad… and even after all we've said to each other, how could he say that to me?

That night, I didn't dream. I hardly even slept and woke the next morning a total wreck. My eyes were puffy, my nose was stuffed up, and Merlin knows what happened to my hair. I looked as if I had been rubbing my head on my blankets the entire night.

All the girls in my dorm noticed, but let me have my space, though I knew Rose would ask about it later when I wasn't so messed up. I got dressed quickly as to avoid seeing Potter when I went to breakfast and then I rushed to the Great Hall.

About ten minutes into my breakfast, Rose sat across from me. The other girls, along with Dom Weasley (Never call her Dominique. It's painful.), who was a year older, and Molly, who was a year younger, trailed in a few minutes later. I ate silently and the other girls talked quietly, but awkwardly because they all wondered what was wrong and it was a huge elephant in the room.

Rose looked at me every few seconds with a questioning look, but I ignored it. She obviously didn't know about Potter finding out about her and Scorpius, so I didn't want her to get upset by saying anything.

Throughout the meal I wanted to take a glance at Potter to see if he was still angry or to see if he was going to try to kill Malfoy. Finally, the temptation was too great and I gave in. He was sitting at the other end of the Gryffindor table with his dorm-mates, Lysander Scamandar, Sophie's twin brother, Eric Wood, and Cole Thomas, and a few of his family, Hugo who was talking intently with Lucy, who was in third year, James, and Fred. Everybody around Potter seemed to be laughing or talking or socializing in some way, but Potter looked horrible. He just stared at his plate with dark circles under his eyes and his hair messier than usual.

It was as if he felt me staring because he looked up and met my eyes. I looked away fast, but not before seeing pain on his face.

_He must be hurting because he acted like a jerk when his cousin was happy. Why would he care about me? _I thought to myself, but the nagging feeling that I had something to do with his agony wouldn't go away. My appetite was gone. I got up from the table without saying where I was going, mostly because I didn't know. I just had to leave.

I speed-walked out of the hall and as I left, I heard footsteps behind me.

"Alice," Potter called out. I spun around fists clenched and tears in my eyes, ready to yell, but his next words stopped me. All of my fight was gone in seconds.

"I'm sorry."


	5. Apologize

"What?"

I was shocked and in total disbelief. My mouth dropped open slightly and my eyes were wide in surprise. He wasn't angry at me or murderous or giving me the cold shoulder. Potter had followed me out of the Great Hall just to say "sorry". It was unbelievable.

"I said sorry," repeated Potter in a quiet voice, looking humble for the first time since I've known him.

"I know. I heard you. What I'm confused about is why you're sorry. Why are you saying sorry? We've fought before and said awful things to each other before, but neither of us has apologized for it. Why now? What is so different this time around?" I interrogated him.

"Because what I said was wrong and it was completely out of line. I even crossed the line," Potter stepped closer to me so that we were now inches apart. I stepped back, trying to get space between us. "Your dad is a family friend and I didn't mean what I said. I respect and like him. He's a good man and one of my favorite professors. I was just trying to hurt you because I was angry and I was stupid. Can you forgive me, Alice?"

I was tempted to say "yes", but I didn't. I was still hurt and mad and upset at him. _How dare he think he can just say sorry and make a sad puppy face and everything will be alright?_

"No, I can't," I said coldly and continued to walk down the hall, the only destination in my mind was away. Again I heard footsteps behind me and seeing as there was no one else in the passage, I knew it was Potter trying to talk to me a second time.

"Alice, please!" he called after me. I could hear his footsteps get closer to me, but I ignored him. I picked up my pace as the tears threatened to escape. I wanted to get away from him, but he reached me and grabbed my hand, pulling me closer to him.

"Alice, just hear me out," he pleaded with me. I made the mistake of looking into his eyes and saw only pain and sorrow. I had to stay to hear what he had to say almost as if his gaze locked me in my spot. I nodded at him, letting him know that I was ready to listen to his apologies. I let him know that I was ready to be reasonable about it. He smiled sadly, grateful, and held both of my hands in his, thumbs stroking them softly. A single tear slid down my face, which he wiped off before talking.

"Don't run away from me. Please. Yell at me, hit me, do something, _anything_, but don't leave me because I can't stand you not talking to me. I know we've never really got along, but we've had a friendship, maybe a rocky friendship, but a friendship in our own way. We argue, we fight, we say we hate each other, but truthfully, Alice, I lo— like spending time with you and last night I was stupid enough to mess it all up. I enjoy what we have. I'm serious when I say that I like your dad and I didn't mean what I said about him and you. Neville is a good guy and one of my parent's best friends. Also, I wanted to say…" he paused for a second before picking back up. "…that you were right about me. I'm not happy about Rose and… Scorpius, but I _do_ want her to be happy. She's my favorite cousin and best friend and I know you care about her. I really am sorry," When he finished, he squeezed my hands lightly and his eyes begged with me to forgive him. So, I did. All my anger melted away.

I timidly put my hands on his face and he held my wrists and we looked into each other's eyes. I got closer to him and was about to kiss him when he pushed me away.

"Do you forgive me?"

"Of course," I answered nodding, gently caressing his cheeks. Then, when I went to kiss him this time, he let me. Unlike before, this was slow. We weren't in a hurry. He touched my cheeks and my hands moved to his neck. It was different from our snog sessions and I'm sure we both knew it, but I didn't know what to make of it. Al said it himself; we were friends _at most_. He didn't feel _that _way about me. I didn't understand what was between us, whatever it was, but I was starting to like it.

We stayed that way for what seemed like hours, but it was probably only minutes. When we broke apart, he smirked. It made me glad to know that we were back to normal.

"Well, I'm for sure forgiven," he said cockily. I rolled my eyes and couldn't help laughing a little bit. His apology, friendliness and snog had me feeling giddy. I pretended to think about it, stroking my chin with my thumb and pointer finger.

"I guess," I said mock-reluctantly. Sticking my hand out to him, I said, "Friends?" His smirk dropped a little, but he took my hand and nodded.

"Friends."

I went to Defense Against the Dark Arts and sat between Rose and Sophie, both of whom looked up at me when I walked in just in time. Potter slipped in the classroom right after me and plopped down at the table behind me, sitting by his friends Cole and Lysander, who were quietly arguing about the existence of Nargles. Those two were always arguing about the existence of some sort of animal.

Lysander believed in everything his mother and father said, through and through. He was a nice guy, but strange. Not only was he odd in his thought process, but he just looked… different. If you ever watched the guy, and I mean _really_ looked at him, you could see him staring off into nothing. I always wondered what he was seeing.

Cole, on the other hand, was practical. He was a realist and thought the idea of something that had never been seen (at least, not by a credible witness) being real was absolutely ridiculous. He thought of everything logically, which made him super smart. He was up there in grades, competing with Ravenclaws and Rose.

Both Rose and Sophie gave me a look because Potter and I came in at about the same time, but I pretended like I didn't see it and paid more attention than I usually did to Professor Lupin's lecture.

Teddy got the job this year after spending a few years as an Auror with the Ministry of Magic. Once his wife of almost a year, Victoire, became pregnant with their little boy a few months ago, he promised to get a safer job and decided to take up teaching at Hogwarts and, hopefully, keep it for more than a year, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since Voldemort wanted the job years ago. It seemed even though he was dead, he was still causing trouble.

Right now we were going over the three Unforgivable Curses. Al's dad, Harry, (Yes, I'm calling him Al. We're supposed to be friends, aren't we?) was scheduled to floo in and talk about them tomorrow and all of the other kids in my class were talking about it. Everyone wanted a chance to talk to the savior of the wizarding world, but Rose and Al and all the other Wotters weren't so thrilled about it. All the attention annoyed them and they wanted to feel normal. Rose was already starting to snap at people who mentioned Harry or her parents and how wonderful the "Golden Trio", as they were called, was.

When all the Wotter kids first started to go to Hogwarts, they were automatically treated differently than other students. Some, like James or Dom or Fred, didn't mind it, and even used it to their advantage. They could handle the attention, but Rose, Roxy, Al, and the others hated the special treatment. It made them feel like outsiders and they also didn't like being put up on a pedestal. After a while, the hype about them went down and they were like everyone else, but now that it started up again, even James, Dom, and Fred were irritated about it.

Right after Defense, Dom, Rose and I went to the library during free period to study. Dom didn't normally study very much, but now that it was N.E.W.T. year, she was kicking it into high gear. At this moment she was writing a one foot long essay in Charms. Rose, who normally was the studying master, was looking at me again questioningly. I couldn't pretend not to see it anymore.

"What, Rose?" I asked with a little bit more irritability than I had intended.

"So it's just a coincidence that you and Al both looked like hell this morning and then you both vanish off to somewhere after breakfast and when you get to Defense Against the Dark Arts, you both look better? What happened?" she asked slyly, but with a faux innocent look on her freckled face. _I swear that girl could be a Slytherin,_ I thought.

"Nothing, Rosy-Posey," I said. She scowled at the childhood nickname. "Look, we got in a little, itty-bitty fight. It's nothing that hasn't happened before. Stop worrying and do what you do best. Study your arse off." Our conversation caught Dom's attention.

"It's about bloody time that you and Al got together!" she exclaimed happily, earning a look from Madam Pince. She looked at the librarian apologetically, but when she looked back at us she rolled her eyes. In a quieter voice she said, "So when did it happen?"

"It didn't," I denied adamantly. "Nothing's going on between me and Al." Her smile just got wider.

"But it did! You called him Al, not Potter!" She said enthusiastically, getting another glare from Madam Pince and a firm "shh". I groaned.

"All we did was come to a mutual agreement with each other to be friends, you guys. Stop making a big deal about it. We're not together. We're just…" I paused, trying to come up with the right word. "… cooperating." Dom gave me a knowing look.

"Of course. Right. Gotcha. Ted and Vic 'cooperate'," she said, obviously not believing me one bit. I stuck my tongue out at her, but she ignored me and continued to study. I looked at Rose for support only to see her trying not to laugh at my obvious discomfort. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Oh, it's on, Rose," I challenged and she looked at me questioningly. "Hey, Dom. Rose has a boyfriend." I turned to Rose, smirking a little. "Don't you want to tell her all about it, Rose?" She mouthed "traitor" at me before blushing bright red when her cousin started to play twenty questions with her. I just laughed at the situation. I loved to win.

I went to the rest of my classes; Transfiguration, double Charms, Potions, History of Magic, Arithmancy, Herbology (where my dad brought out Venomous Tentacula for us to re-plant in bigger pots and I almost got my finger stabbed by it's spikes), and Care of Magical Creatures. The last class was a bit dodgy because we were taking care of Blast-Ended Skrewts, but the other classes were normal. In other words, I had mountains of homework.

Feeling tense that night, I laid in bed, thinking about Al. After the stress of today, I needed a release for my frustrations. I got out of bed, muttering a silencing charm on my bunny slippers, I snuck out of the dorm and into the boys' room.

Quietly, I cast Silencio on him and then gave him a wet willy. I know what you're thinking; what a great way to set the mood. I know it was.

He jumped up and screamed silently, clutching his throat with one hand and putting the other over his ear.

"That is so messed up," he mouthed to me. I just smirked and giggled lightly before walking out of the dorm, motioning for him to follow.

When he arrived in the common room, I was lounging on the couch across from the fireplace.

"Miss me?" he asked with a smirk, walking towards me. I almost couldn't handle the anticipation. I couldn't believe I'd done this. I initiated our agreement. I wanted him, but I didn't want to want him.

I pushed the thought from my mind. I wasn't going to worry about it tonight. It was about stress relief tonight. He sat on the couch next to me, his leg touching mine purposely. I leaned toward him; lips parted slightly and kissed him. Our hands joined together between us, as we snogged like there was no tomorrow.

I was being shocked everywhere. My body tingled with electric bursts and my mouth was on fire. After a few more minutes, we both went up for air, breathing heavy and hearts thumping. Al and I just sat there, looking at the fire in a silence that was both awkward and comfortable.

I suddenly didn't know what I was doing or why I was here. It was a terrible idea. I repeated my thought to Al.

"Why? Why is it so bad to want to be with me?" he asked calmly, though his whole body was tense.

"This isn't what friends do. We are friends," I told him, trying to convince myself as well as him. I didn't even say good-bye when I rushed back upstairs into bed, leaving him on the couch, wondering what we were.

For the next week or so, I spent most of my time in the library with Rose and Dom and occasionally others from my dorm or other Wotters. I got all of my essays and other homework done in time for the first Gryffindor match of the season on Saturday. It was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw and this year, Ravenclaw had gotten a new seeker, Curtis Belby, so I was interested how he would do against Al.

Oh, Al… I hadn't talked to him since our conversation that night. We said hi in the halls, and talked civilly during meals, but every time we talked, I was pushed back to that night and was forced to confront the fact that something was going on with us and it wasn't friendship. I wasn't ready for anything more.

I grabbed my Gryffindor flag for the game and rushed down with Aileen to meet the others, who were already up in the house box, saving our seats. Aileen took forever to get ready and was always getting places at the last minute. I stayed behind so she didn't have to be there alone.

We got to the pitch right as the captains, James Potter and Kelly Davies, shook hands. Kelly was a small blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl, but was tougher than she looked and had a mean grip. After the handshake, I could see James flexing his hand and wincing. Madame Hooch grabbed the quaffle from the box.

"I want a clean game. Follow the rules or you won't play for the rest of the match." She threw it up in the air and then released the bludgers and the snitch. Game on.

"Eric Wood has the quaffle. He passes to beautiful Roxanne, who I would just love to go to Hogsmeade with," announced our commentator, Eddie Jordan, who was a fifth year. He was always biased towards Gryffindor and used excessive insults towards other teams and players, often getting in trouble with Headmistress McGonagall, but he made the games fun. Also, I think McGonagall secretly enjoys it.

"She passes to James Potter, but oh! It was intercepted by Kelly Davies. Come on, Roxanne. Has me asking you out really made you _that_ nervous?" he joked. Fred, her older brother, hit a bludger at Eddie and called him a few interesting and highly creative words that I would definitely try to remember. He didn't appreciate his little sister dating, even if she was sixteen. Roxy just ignored him, though I'm sure she'd get him back for using her full name as well as taking the mickey out of her.

Kelly had lost the quaffle to James, who proceeded to score. Al was scanning the field for the snitch with Belby hovering a few feet behind him. Gryffindor scored once again, but I didn't see who did it because one of the Ravenclaw beaters sent a bludger at Al, who avoided it, but just barely, and then he proceeded to slowly circle the pitch in search of the golden snitch.

"Now, Jerry Boot has the quaffle and he fumbles with it. He drops the quaffle. How he made Head Boy, I'll never know; the wanker."

McGonagall scolded him, so he went back to real commentary for the time being.

"The quaffle is picked up by Corner, who scores. What are you doing, Thomas? Don't let her score, you prat! The score is twenty to ten. Gryffindor in the lead," Eddie yelled out. Right then, one of the Ravenclaw beaters succeeded in hitting Al in the back with a bludger. He cursed profusely, but stayed on his broom. He may have looked fine, but I knew he was just doing that for the sake of the game. I worried about him.

"You're just jealous that Al is better than your seeker, Hilliard," Jordan taunted the beater. Hilliard responded by lobbing another bludger at Al, but missing in his rage.

In the next few minutes, it seemed like Gryffindor went into overdrive because of Al's injury. They scored three more times and were in possession again.

"Eric Wood scores again. Gryffidor in the lead; sixty to ten! Yikes and Aileen Finnegan sent a bludger at Belby, hitting him in the side. Nice hit! Take that, birdbrains!" Sure enough, Curtis Belby was bent over on his broom, struggling to stay on.

Unfortunately, Ravenclaw grabbed the quaffle and was passing it frequently between the chasers and Gryffindor was unable to stop them from scoring again. Cole Thomas threw the quaffle toward James, but Claire Corner intercepted it, earning a glare… and a wink? She rolled her eyes and flew forward.

"Ravenclaw has possession of the quaffle. They're making their way down the pitch. Someone stop her, damn it!" ordered our announcer. "They're at the goal and… Cole Thomas catches the quaffle and passes it to Roxy. And, babe, my offer still stands." He winked at her.

All of a sudden Al surged forward, right hand outstretched. Belby tried to catch up, but couldn't as he was in obvious pain, probably a broken rib, maybe a couple. Eddie Jordan was shouting something, but you couldn't hear it over the roar of the crowd. Al chased after it, then stopped and put his hand up in the air showing the crowd that he caught the snitch.

"Gryffindor wins two-hundred ten to twenty!" shouted Jordan while the players touched down on the pitch. I rushed down to look at Al's injuries. Other players were hurt, but I could only focus on Al. When I arrived on the field, he had taken off his shirt and I blushed, trying not to look at his abs (even though I saw them already and they were amazing). I gasped when I saw his back. There was a giant bruise on his left shoulder blade and he was hunched over, wincing. Now that he wasn't playing, the pain was really taking into effect.

I walked over to him and put my hand on his unhurt shoulder.

"Do you want some help with that?" I asked quietly. He looked up and nodded. I healed the bruise as fast as I could, but I wasn't certified to fix the rest of his hurt shoulder blade. I left it to Madam Pomfrey, who arrived right after I did.

Worriedly, I paced around the quidditch pitch to find Roxy and Aileen and congratulate them on their big win, when I heard James talking to the Ravenclaw chaser, Claire Corner.

"So, Claire," he said in a macho voice. "How would you like to go on a date to Hogsmeade with the winning quidditch captain?"

"Over my dead body, Potter," she answered sweetly.

"Don't be jealous that we won, Corner. I'll let you win next time."

"Let me win? My team will kick your arse, Potter. Today was just a fluke," she replied.

"Your team? I thought you lost the captain position to Boot. I guess that means that I'm the better player. You could go out with me and learn some tips, Corner," he suggested with a smile. That smile was wiped off his face when Claire smacked him and stormed off with a yell into the Ravenclaw girl's changing room.

Once everyone was done getting treated and the drama was over, all of the Gryffindors gathered in the common room, the quidditch team grouped in the middle. James Potter stood on the sofa and shouted above the cheers for everyone to settle down.

"Shut it, everyone! Quiet down!" He had everyone's undivided attention, but I could tell he was still angry and his ego was hurt after his heated fight with Claire (even though, let's face it, he acted like a jerk). "Who won?" He asked, pumping up the crowd.

"Gryffindor!" we shouted.

"I can't hear you. Who won?"

"Gryffindor!" we screamed at the top of our lungs. James grinned widely.

"Let's get this party started, then!" With a flourish of his wand, music flowed through the room from an unknown source. Gryffindors, along with the occasional party crasher from other houses, piled onto the dance floor and started to boogey.

And so the Gryffindor victory party began.


	6. I'll Be Waiting

The girls and I sprinted up to our dorms to change out of our uniforms and into something cute before the party. Roxy looked effortlessly gorgeous in some skinny jeans and a pink baby doll top that contrasted beautifully with her dark skin, and a pair of silver flats with a little bow on top. She always seemed to know exactly what to wear, but never spent much time on her wardrobe. She left her long black hair down and she stormed out of the dorm before all of the rest of us muttering something about Eddie Jordan and castration. I really didn't want to know the details, but I felt bad for poor Eddie. Weasley women could be outright scary when they wanted to, so it's best not to get in her way when she's on the rampage.

Aileen, our resident fashionista, wore a light green, spaghetti-strap dress that brought out her green eyes. It was belted at the waist with a brown leather belt and flowed down to above her knees and would twirl as she danced. (That girl could move.) She looked summery with the light colors and her flowing, light brown hair, which she, too, left down. She paired the dress with some dangerously tall, strappy silver heels that gave me vertigo just by looking at them.

Sophie wore a bold-colored floral skirt that stopped at mid-thigh and a deep blue sleeveless blouse with ruffles down the front tucked into it that matched some of the flowers on her skirt. She searched throughout our pigsty of a room, which wasn't normally dirty, but had taken all the damage in our quest to look good, for her red ballet flats, that matched some other flowers on her skirt. She yelled out in triumph when she found them under her bed. She pulled her blond locks into a high pony tail, which was simple, but elegant, showing off her heart-shaped face.

Rose had more difficulty finding something that worked for her because of her modesty, cluelessness regarding clothes and her flaming red hair that clashed with certain colors. Sophie decided on a classic black dress for her that had a wide neck line, three quarter sleeves and came down to above her knee, but hugged her every curve perfectly. Aileen grabbed a pair of scarlet kitten heels to complete her outfit. Rose pulled her hair into a half up do and then went to work on doing the rest of the girl's makeup.

I had no idea what to wear. I never dressed up. It wasn't that I was a tomboy or anything, but I just always wore the basics. Plus, when one wears a uniform for most of the year, one doesn't worry about fashion… well, at least I don't. So, when the others were all ready and they saw me still in my uniform, they set to work.

Sophie and Aileen raided my wardrobe for something for me to wear and came up with a light blue dress that I forgot I owned. It had thick straps and flowed out under my bust, stopping a few inches above my knees. They slipped white pumps on my feet, which made me feel like I would fall over, but once I walked around in them, I realized they weren't so bad (for now), though it was hard to avoid the mess in our room. I curled my hair using a simple heating charm and my wand so that it was in ringlets around my face. Rose, who, though a little fashion impaired, was a pro at makeup, assaulted my face with makeup. They went for a natural look; thank Merlin, because I wasn't big on makeup. The overall effect was pretty and made me take a few minutes to look at myself in the mirror. I wasn't a vain person, but damn I looked good.

Once we finished getting ready, we walked into a completely transformed common room. The normal sofas and side-tables were gone and a few Gryffindors were already dancing in the spaces where they used to reside as a Weird Sisters song played. The study table had also mysteriously disappeared and was replaced with a temporary bar, which was being tended by Al, who was making drinks for two girls that were definitely under-aged and definitely looking to get into his pants, judging by their dresses which didn't cover their arses. I saw way more of them than I wanted to. I shuddered in disgust and horror.

I walked over to Al and the slags, faintly annoyed, but I couldn't place why. Al looked up smiling and waving at me as I went over to him. The bimbos turned around and glared at me, the brunette one flipped her hair and the blonde one mouthed some vulgar, insulting word at me, but I wasn't paying attention.

"Hey, Alice," he greeted, smirking like always. "I didn't know you drank alcohol. I thought Daddy wouldn't like it." I rolled my eyes.

"I don't much, Al. I just want a butterbeer. Nice game, by the way," I said, making small talk. He handed me a glass and poured some butterbeer in it. I sipped the warm liquid, enjoying the warm sensation as it went down my throat.

"Thanks," he said. The two bimbos left when they weren't getting enough attention. "You look good, Alice. You clean up really nice." I smiled, pleased, and blushed lightly.

"Thanks, Al. You look pretty good, yourself," I said, truthfully. He wore simple jeans and a dress shirt with a loosened tie around his neck. The sleeves were rolled up, exposing muscular forearms and his hair was in his usual messy, sexy style. He rubbed the back of his neck and muttered a "thanks". It was nice to see him bashful, instead of his normally cocky self.

"So what brings you here, Allie?" he asked casually, handing a firewhiskey to Connor Young, a seventh year, though it looked like he didn't need it. He swayed as he grabbed the drink, liquid sloshing around in the cup and onto his hand. I raised my eyebrow at Al.

"I don't think he needs more alcohol," I said, worriedly. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Alice. It was water. I figured it out last year, that I could charm the water to taste like firewhiskey. I give it to people who've had one too many. Now, answer my question, _Mum_," he said, smirking at me. I glared at him pretending to be offended.

"Fine, I'm just talking to my friend. Is that not allowed?" I challenged. He chuckled, but didn't look convinced.

"Not what I meant. I mean why are you talking to me when there are plenty of other people to mingle with? Soph and Rosey are over there dancing. Why aren't you?"

"I like you, Al," I said, his face brightening at my words. "I don't feel like dancing and you're fun to talk to. You're a good friend." His face fell, but it happened so fast that I couldn't be sure what to make of it. After a moment of silence, I had to say something.

"I thought you were going to lose the bet for a second there. Those were most definitely bimbos," I joked, laughing as I looked back at the pair of girls, who had moved onto their newest victim, Eric Wood, although he seemed to be enjoying himself as his eyes obviously were glued to their chest areas. Al chuckled and rolled his eyes when he saw them, while cleaning up the bar area.

"Ah, so you've given up trying to convince me that you count?" he said with a wink.

"I do, though. I didn't just mean them," I told him, subtly pointing to the two girls with Eric. "You definitely cheated." Al just smirked at me.

"It doesn't count. And to answer your first question, no. I wouldn't do that. I have my eye on a pair of gloves for quidditch and they cost twenty galleons, which you'll be paying me."

"You wish, Potter. I may not have enjoyed seeing all that much of them, but you did. I saw you flirting with them," I scoffed, letting some of my ridiculous envy slip into my words by accident.

"Are we really back to last names, Longbottom?" he joked. "And are you jealous?" He smirked at me. I could feel my face grow hot and I couldn't explain why. Was I really jealous of those two girls?

"No," I denied. "Why would I be jealous?" Al kept smirking as he stepped from behind the bar and grabbed his cousin, Fred, so that he could man the drinks. Then, we walked over to the window seat and sat down.

"Maybe because you enjoyed snogging me more than you want to admit. I mean, just look at that night last week. You found me, remember?," he suggested arrogantly. I laughed at the ridiculousness of his idea, though I could feel a little truth in his words.

"Oh, please, Al," I said, still laughing. "You're a good snog, but I don't have feelings for you." His smirk grew on his face.

"I never said anything about feelings. You have feelings for me?" I was mortified. My eyes widened before I blushed brightly and avoided looking at his face.

"I… I don't like you th… that way. You're my… my friend," I stammered. He stroked my cheek with the back of his hand.

"So when you ran out to make sure I was okay after the game? That was friendly concern? My own family wasn't as worried as you were."

"I… I was just worried that you had been hurt. It meant nothing more," I tried to reason with him, though even I could tell that I was just trying to convince myself.

"Your other friends had injuries. Why not them?" he smiled self-contentedly, knowing he'd won.

"I… We… We're friends. Friends, Al. That's all."

"Oh, really?" he asked, staring into my eyes intently. "Would a friend do this?"

My heart was pounding in my chest and even though music was blaring and everyone was dancing right beside us, I felt like we were the only two in the room. His face got closer to mine and he kissed me softly, pulling my body towards his. Al's hands slid down my face to my neck and then made their way to my waist. I found myself straddling his lap as our snogging got more heated. His tongue slipped inside my mouth and my hands tangled in his hair, pulling him closer to me. I felt one of hands grab my thigh through my dress and the other was resting on my hip, but it was making its way down to my arse.

When his hand found its destination and squeezed, I gasped into Al's mouth and I could feel his lips curl upwards, but I didn't stop. I didn't even want to stop and it scared me. The way that he made me feel scared me. I couldn't do this right now. I pulled away from Al and sat as far from him as I could on the window seat as I caught my breath and slowed my heart, which I seemed to do a lot of lately.

Al hadn't moved from his spot and looked as though he wanted to smirk, but decided it wasn't a good idea. Smart boy.

We sat like this for a few minutes before he spoke.

"So you are really saying that you don't have any sort of feelings for me?" I pinched the bridge of my nose between my thumb and forefinger and cursed under my breath.

"Okay, fine. I feel something for you," I admitted for the first time to him and myself. "I'm not really sure what it is, Al, so you can't expect anything to happen between us any time soon," I said, hoping he would understand. He just nodded. I looked down at the floor because I didn't want to see his disappointment. He just put his hand under my chin and had me look up at him.

"But you do feel something for me?" he asked, smiling for real this time. It was as if he hadn't heard any other word I said.

"Yes, but—," I tried to argue.

"No, 'buts', Allie," he cut me off. He grabbed my hands and squeezed them. "I can wait for you to figure it out. I may have been an arse, but I've liked you for years and you're worth the wait. Ever since we were kids, before Hogwarts, I had a huge crush on you, but never got the courage to say anything to you. I have acted stupid for years, but now that I have you, I'm not going to mess it up." He got up to leave, but then turned around. "And, also, you have nothing to worry about with those girls. Total slags. They have nothing on you, Allie." He kissed my cheek and then disappeared into the crowd of people.

_I kept sitting down on the window seat stunned. He'd liked me for years? After all of our fighting and yelling and insults, he had a crush on me? How old was he? Seven? _

I had thought it before, but now I was certain; Al was mental. And sitting there after his announcement, made me realize I liked him, too, so I must be mental as well. He was right when he said that even though we fought, it was just how our relationship was. In a strange way, we'd become friends, but now, I wanted more. I was ready for more with Al, though maybe not an actual relationship, I wanted to get to know him and spend time with him.

I got up off the seat, determined. I searched the room for Al, but I couldn't find him. I saw Rose sitting with Sophie at the bar talking with Freddy. I made my way through the crowd of grinding and dancing Gryffindors, passing by Aileen, who was dancing unstably with a firewhiskey in her hand and a Slytherin bloke in front of her, and went over to them.

"Hey, guys, have you seen Al?" I asked the trio. All three of them shook their heads and I gave up the search for the time being and sat down with them to talk. We chatted about all sorts of things until Freddy saw Eddie Jordan, who must have already run into Roxy because he looked terrified, and decided it was time to get him back for hitting on his little sister. Eddie saw Fred coming toward him and bolted into the dance floor to escape his wrath with Fred chasing after him with an empty butterbeer bottle in his hand. Sophie, Rose and I just looked at each other's faces and burst out laughing. When we finally could contain ourselves, Rose asked me why I was looking for Al.

"Um…" I said stupidly, blushing. _Bloody blushing. It always gave me away._ "Well… I've decided I want to be more than friends with Al. I think I like him and I want to ask him to Hogsmeade so we can really get to know each other better and we'll see where we'll take it from there." Rose squealed and gave me a bone-crushing hug. Sophie just smiled knowingly.

Rose left the common room after wiggling her eyebrows at me, probably to go to the Slytherin common room to visit Scorpius. Sophie turned to me after she walked off and shoved me off of my stool that I was sitting on.

"Go away and don't come back until you've found Al," ordered Sophie, trying to look stern, but failing miserably. She gave me a push in the direction of the middle of the room. I shook my head and laughed. I was friends with some nutters.

She got up after shoving me and went to talk to Cole. I watched them for a minute. Soph kept smiling and playing with her hair and would bite her lip unknowingly. Cole would reach his hand up every once in a while to, I'm guessing, put her hair behind her ear. Both were smiling goofily. I would have to ask her about that later… in front of everyone. Payback here I come.

I scoured the dance floor for Al for a second time. This time I found him. He was in the back corner of the room, sucking face with one of the slutty girls that were flirting with him at the bar. I stood there and stared, dumbfounded. I felt stupid. It was all shite that he was feeding me, just to get into my pants. All he wanted was stupid slags.

Al… No, Potter broke away from the bimbo for air and saw me standing there. His face looked pained. He knew I'd caught him, but I didn't want to hear his bloody excuses. I didn't turn back as he called my name. I just shoved my way through the crowed and went to my dorm, struggling to hold in my tears.

I heard him yelling my name from the bottom of the stairs when I got into my dorm, but I didn't go back down there. I got into my jumper and sweat pants and crawled into my bed. I wasn't able to hold in my tears anymore and they flowed freely onto my face and then started to dampen my pillow. So much for him waiting for me.

The next morning, I woke earlier than usual, feeling like shit, even though I wasn't hung over. The alarm clock said it was six fourteen in the morning. I groaned, but got up and dragged myself to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, my eyes were red and swollen and my nose felt stuffed up. I showered quickly and made sure I looked fine. I didn't want anyone to know I'd been crying over Potter. I left the room before my mates had even woken up.

I reached the Great Hall and there were only a few people there eating. I grabbed a waffle and ate it with my hands, even though I didn't feel hungry. Within minutes, I was done and speed-walking out of the Great Hall only to bump into the one person I didn't want to see.

"Allie," he tried to explain, but I shoved him. He tried to take my hand, but I pushed against his chest again.

"You'll wait for me?" I sneered before fuming away with hot tears in my eyes, ignoring his please, not understanding why I was feeling hurt of this magnitude.


	7. Flashback

It had been three weeks since I first and last encountered Potter after the whole incident and he had stopped trying to talk to me since. I know in my heart that I was hoping he would come after me, even if I didn't say it. I should have said it, but I didn't and he didn't bother to come to me and explain again. I'm not sure what hurt more; that he was with another girl or that he didn't even try to fix it. He let me go and so, I had to move on.

Rose and my other dorm-mates knew something had happened, but I wouldn't tell them what was wrong and judging from their constant questions and confused looks, Potter didn't say anything either. Rose was more persistent than the others, but eventually let it go. For the time being the girls left me to be by myself, knowing I needed space and would come talk to all of them when I was ready, as I always did.

Despite my hurt, I couldn't help but look over at him while he was sitting at the other end of the table. His friends were all talking, but would look at him strangely from time to time. Potter must not have told them what happened either. The only person who seemed to know more about the situation was James, who kept looking at me questioningly, but he also was distracted by Claire, who would glare at him whenever their eyes met.

I envied them. I wanted to be back in that situation. I wanted to hate Potter like Claire hated James, but I couldn't anymore.

My gaze was drawn to Potter again. His elbows were on the table, one hand under his chin and the other lazily eating a piece of toast and jam. He looked like hell. Half of me, the logical part, thought he deserved it for playing with my feelings, for making me feel like a fool. The other half wanted to forgive him so much that it physically made my heart ache. That part of me didn't like seeing him in pain, even if he caused me so much of it, and though I hated to admit it, especially to myself, the illogical part of me was winning out. Right there, looking at him, I couldn't help wonder what he was thinking about and how he was doing. I wanted to make sure he was okay, but I couldn't. It would hurt too much to care about him.

**Al's POV:**

I ate my toast slowly, but I didn't feel remotely hungry. After I tried to talk to Allie, she just sneered at me with a cold look and pushed me away, literally and figuratively. Stupidly, I was stunned and I let her get away and, now, I wasn't sure how to approach her to explain what happened. It was all a misunderstanding and she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

**Flashback to the party:**

_I was on cloud nine since I told Alice I liked her and I'd wait for her. After I made my promise, I kissed her cheek and I left to give her some time to think. I made my way over to James, who was sitting gloomily on the top of the stairs of the boy's dorm._

_"Good game, mate," I said, patting him on the back. He smiled a little, but said nothing. I looked at him confusedly and sat beside him on the stair step. "What's up?" James sighed, sounding frustrated._

_"It's just Claire," he said as if it explained everything._

_"Claire?" I asked. "Claire who?" Although I thought I knew who he was talking about._

_"Claire Corner from Ravenclaw," he replied with another sigh. Bingo. I was right. I decided to play clueless since I wasn't supposed to know about James's feelings. He didn't like people to know exactly how deeply he felt about Claire since she turned him down all the time. It was his personal defense, a wall he kept around his emotions, scared of letting other people see them. It was sad, and thinking about it now, it was a mirror of myself, so I didn't bring it up with him.. If he wanted me to know, he would tell me._

_"The chaser on the quidditch team? That Claire Corner? Don't tell me you fancy her. She hates your guts." James laughed humorlessly._

_"Thanks for the help, mate. I didn't notice that," he snapped at me sarcastically._

_"Look, I'm sorry. Why don't you just tell her how you feel? It worked for me," I said trying to help._

_"I _did_ try that; multiple times. She keeps shooting me down. Claire says I'm too full of myself and too immature. She doesn't even realize that I've changed so much over the summer and this year," he paused and chuckled a little bit. "She was especially mad because we whooped Ravenclaw's arse. Why do I fancy a sore loser?" I just laughed._

_"She was probably mad about us winning because, knowing you, you rubbed it in her face," I said and by his guilty expression, I knew he did. "I can see why you fancy her, though. You guys are so alike. Both of you are sore losers and completely bonkers for quidditch. It'll work out, James. Just show her you care." James smiled and ruffled my hair. I batted his hand away before punching him in the arm._

_"Thanks, Al. You're a good brother," he paused before adding, "And what do you mean it worked for you?"_

_"I told Allie," I said simply, trying to sound nonchalant, but my excitement showed through in my voice. James just laughed at me._

_"It's about bloody time! You've only liked her since forever."_

_"Thanks for the support." I rolled my eyes and then got up from sitting on the stairs. "Listen, it'll work out. Don't worry about it." I hopped down the stairs two at a time and left him to think about it._

_I headed towards the portrait hole. I was starving after the game and didn't get the chance to eat before the party, so I wanted to go to the kitchens. I was almost there when the blonde girl that Allie said was flirting with me, Ella McLaggen, blocked my path. _

_"Hey, Al," she purred, putting her hands on my chest. Normally, I'd be all over her, but now that I finally told Allie how I felt, I grabbed her hands and put them by her sides._

_"Sorry," I said. "I've got someone else. She means a lot to me, so I can't do this."_

_She looked at something behind me before grabbing my collar and kissing me. I pried her off of me and whirled around in time to see what, or should I say who, Ella was looking at; Alice glaring daggers at me._

_"Alice!" I yelled for her. She just ignored me and headed to the girl's dorm. I kept calling her name, but she kept moving, pushing people out of her way in order to get to her destination. She got up the stairs before I could get to her and I tried to get her to come back down, but I didn't even get an answer from her. I wanted to grab my shoes, but unfortunately Uncle George gave them to me to try out and said they were prototypes. After the night I went up to get Allie, they stopped working. _

_"Shit," I said under my breath, running my hands through my hair forcefully. "I seriously screwed this up."_

**Back to the present:**

I ran my hand through my hair as I remembered the party. I had to fix this and soon. I couldn't sleep and I could hardly eat, which caused my quidditch skills to seriously suffer at practices. My teammates tried to find out what was wrong, but I didn't say anything. Alice wouldn't want me to. Roxy, Aileen, and James knew something happened between us, but they didn't bring it up. I didn't want to talk about it and I didn't want to hurt Allie more.

The truth was that I lied to Alice when I said I liked her. I didn't like her; I was in love with her. I figured that if I told her that off the bat, she would go bonkers. I don't know when I fell in love with her, but I have had a crush on her since childhood.

Her dad has been friends with my parents since their years at Hogwarts and when Neville got married to Hannah, my mum and dad became close with her, too. Because of this, Alice was over at my house all the time. Unfortunately, I was too much of a chicken to even talk to her. She didn't notice I existed, but I had the biggest crush on her. Anytime she came over, I would get tongue-tied and so I never said a word to her and tried to avoid her at all cost because I was afraid of looking like an idiot. Little did I know that by evading her, I still appeared an idiot.

The first time I ever had a real interaction with her was on the boat going to Hogwarts. I smiled slightly for the first time since the party thinking about the memory.

**Flashback to the first day of Hogwarts:**

_I was sitting in the same boat as _Alice Marie Longbottom_. A gigantic smile was plastered on my face. I couldn't believe my luck, but what should I say?_

_Suddenly she got up and turned around in circles frantically. She dug her hands into her pockets and frantically searched the boat._

_"Has anyone seen my toad?" she asked worriedly, her hazel eyes starting to water. My eyes lit up. This was my chance to talk to her, to get to know her, to help her. I got up in the boat and looked around on the bottom of the boat. I noticed her toad, Trevor II, directly under the seat she was on, hiding from her searching gaze. I picked it up, but it was so slimy that as soon as triumph, and the toad, was in my grasp, it slipped out of my hands and fell into the lake. I looked up guiltily and saw Alice fuming at me. _

_"Did you throw my pet in the water? Well, if one toad is in the lake, Potter, than the other one should be also!" she yelled and shoved me straight into the Black Lake before I could explain. I bobbed up to the surface surprised and spewing water from my mouth, but all I could think about was the fact that she talked to me. Alice talked to me and that made me the happiest boy in the world._

**Back to the present:**

I now chuckled for the first time since the party, which caught the attention of my friends. They all gave me weird looks because I'd been miserable the whole morning and now I was laughing at nothing. I couldn't help it; the memory still made me laugh. It's stupid, I know, but my logic was that if I annoyed Allie, she would have to say something, anything, to me and so that is exactly what I did. It worked, but she didn't exactly like me very much, which is why I spent my time with brainless girls and having meaningless snogs. I never went _too_ far, but most people thought I did. This year, though, I decided it was going to be different, and Alice made it easier with her bet, and it was… until now. Now, it was worse.

I couldn't even finish my toast. My appetite was completely gone. I set it down on my empty plate and got up to leave the Great Hall, but not before glancing at where Alice sat. She had left.

Quickly, I slid in next to my cousins, Rose and Roxy, along with Aileen and Sophie and my little sister, Lily and asked them where Allie was. Rose scowled at me and the others ignored me.

"What did you do to her?" she asked fiercely, poking me in the chest (which kind of hurt, but I wasn't about to admit that to her). I resisted the urge to rub the sore spot on my chest.

Lily glared at me. She's been nagging me about Allie since the whole incident happened. I was close with my siblings, even if they annoyed me sometimes, and told her after bumping into Allie three weeks ago. Lils loved the idea of me and Allie together. She thought Allie was the sister she never had.

"Nothing," I said, holding my hands up in surrender. "It was all a misunderstanding, which is why I need to find her, Rose. Please, tell me where she went." I hoped she would because if she didn't I was ready to get on my knees and beg. Rose sat there looking at me silently for a minute before sighing.

"Fine. She went up to the owlery to send a letter to her mum," she said. I got up to rush there when Rose grabbed my arm. "Don't hurt her, Al. I know you. You toy with girls. Don't hurt Allie." Roxy nodded, agreeing with her and Sophie and Aileen just looked for my reaction. I looked Rose's straight in the eyes. Lily stopped glaring and looked a little pleased, but tried to hide it.

"Don't insult me, Rose. I hate hurting her. I love her," I said seriously. Lily smiled knowingly. Rose's eyes lit up and she smiled at me and Sophie and Roxy started talking at rapid fire speed about how cute a couple we would be. _Ugh… girls are so bipolar. I would never comprehend how their brains functioned._

"Really? Well, what are you doing here with us? Get going!" Aileen ordered, shooing me away with her hands. I chuckled and dashed to the owlery, hoping to catch Alice before she left.

I got up to the tower within minutes; thankful for the first (and most likely the last) time of all the laps that James ordered us to run at quidditch practice. I stopped before going in to fix my messy hair as much as possible, straighten my uniform and make sure I didn't look completely disheveled. Then, I slowly and soundlessly crept into the owlery where Alice stood, back to me. She was handing the letter to her grey-feathered owl.

"To mum at the Leaky Cauldron," she whispered to her owl, Tilly. When the owl flew off, she turned around and jumped when she saw me. Her face instantly turned cold and she tried to walk out, but I blocked the door.

"Alice, we need to talk," I said, sounding extremely cliché. I cringed, noticing that I sounded like I had bad news.

"Move out of my way, Potter," she growled and tried to push her way past me.

"Listen to me, Allie, please?" I asked her, clutching both sides of the door frame. The cold look didn't leave her face, but she stopped trying to shove me away from the door, so I figured I only had about a minute. "Allie, I never meant to hurt you." She laughed without humor, her eyes colder than ice.

"But you did. I should have known that you couldn't stay away from slags and your one-night-stands," she stated. I winced, but continued on.

"I was trying to go to the kitchens, Alice. She came up to me and wanted..." I trailed off. I figured she didn't need to know the details of that. "I said no because of you. That girl saw you and just grabbed me and kissed me." She rolled her eyes and tried to get past me again, but I wouldn't budge. "I know you don't believe me, but it's true. I would never jeopardize what we have for that slag, McLaggen, Allie. You should know that." I grabbed her shoulders and looked into her hazel eyes.

"I have lo—liked you for years. Even before we talked and you would come over to our house, I thought you were the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, but I couldn't manage the courage to talk to you. It's a wonder that I got into Gryffindor, huh?" I joked, but even though she didn't look as mad, she didn't look amused about the joke so I continued on. "When we were on the boat that day and you thought I threw your toad off the boat, I didn't. It slipped from my hands as I tried to give it to you. All I could think was that this was my shot to talk to you, but you ended up pushing me into the lake. I still was okay with that, though, because you spoke to me. From then on, annoying you was the only way I knew for you to talk to me and it just became a habit. Please don't be mad at me, Allie."

With my guard down, she pushed past me and walked out the door. She was getting away and so I did something drastic.

"Allie, wait!" I shouted after her. "I love you!"

She froze in her place and slowly turned to face me. Her face showed complete and utter shock.

"What?" she choked out at me, a tear running down her face.

"I love you, Alice. Always have and always will."


	8. Dangerous

"Don't joke around, Potter. That's not funny. I don't like your sick jokes. Now leave me alone," I said, unable to stop the tears. Why was he doing this to me? Did he really hate me _that_ much? Potter's face was complete disbelief.

"Are you serious?" he asked incredulously. "You are dense, Alice." He started laughing. The tears kept rolling onto my face. I just wanted him to leave me alone, to stop hurting me.

"Why are you laughing at me? Haven't you done enough?" I asked, though it was slightly unintelligible with the sniffling. Potter ran his hands through his hair and walked over to me. He wrapped his arms around me, rubbing my back in a soothing motion.

"Don't touch me," I said, though I didn't push him away. I felt too defeated to do anything, but just pretend that he hadn't just shattered me. My words were empty threats. He must have known it, too, because he didn't move away. I was a little relieved that he didn't because I felt so safe in his arms, even though my brain told me I shouldn't. I couldn't think rationally when he was near.

After I settled down and stopped crying, he took his arms off my back and placed them on my cheeks. He wiped away the residual tears on my face and then gazed right into my eyes.

"I'm sorry about laughing at you, but you really don't get it. I was serious when I said I love you. I just couldn't fathom why you didn't believe me." I smiled tentatively, but all I could manage feeling was guilt. Guilt at yelling at him over the whole misunderstanding, guilt at hurting him so much, and guilt that I couldn't say it back.

"I'm sorry, too," I said, feeling ashamed. "I should have listened to your side of the story. I was just so mad at you. I thought you were just playing with me and it hurt. I didn't mean to ignore you and yell at you—"

"No need to apologize, Allie. All I need is you to agree to go to Hogsmeade with me," he said, wearing a huge grin and definitely putting on the charm.

"I don't know, Al..." I said after a roll of my eyes and a soft laugh. I was conflicted. I wanted to go so bad, but how could I when he said he loved me, but I couldn't say it back. Al's grin got a little smaller.

"I thought you said that you liked me," he said confusedly, looking years younger with his childlike puzzlement.

"I do, Al, but that's the problem. I don't love you. I can't say it back. I don't want to lead you on." His signature cocky smirk appeared.

"Oh, Allie," he said, putting an arm around my shoulders. "You will," he said confidently. I just giggled and shook my head good-naturedly. "So come on, go with me to Hogsmeade next week. Please?" he asked with a puppy-dog-face. I bit my lip and stroked my chin, pretending to think about it.

"I guess. I mean, I don't have anything else to do," I teased with a huge smile on my face. Al thrust his fist into the air and then kissed me full on the mouth.

"It's a date," he said and then ran off down the walkway. In mid-run he turned around and started to run backwards. "I'll meet you at the Great Hall at ten o'clock on Saturday. I've got to go to quidditch practice," he yelled while waving good-bye. I waved back laughing at him.

I couldn't wait 12 days until Saturday. It was way too long.

The next week couldn't be any slower for me and now that it was Friday, it would go even slower. Friday was going to take forever. My dorm-mates were extremely excited about our date in Hogsmeade tomorrow. I even think Aileen already started picking out my outfit. (Let's face it. I have no idea what to wear.) So today I sat on the bench in the middle of the Gryffindor table, waiting for Saturday.

Ever since Al and I made up and planned our date, our table arrangements had changed drastically. Instead of me and the girls sitting together and Al and his friends sitting on the other end of the table, we all sat together in a Wotter and co. group. It consisted of Al's and my dorm-mates, James, Fred, Dom, and the occasional other family member who popped in for a spell. (Pun intended. Get it? Because we're magic?) The whole group was loud and rambunctious and I loved it.

James and Freddy and Roxanne talked about quidditch non-stop; what new plays should they try, stats on professional players, anything and everything quidditch. They just ate that shit up.

Sophie and Cole were getting cozy and were going to Hogsmeade together as well, though we mutually agreed to go separately and not double date. Neither of us couples felt like sharing.

Rose, of course, only stopped studying to eat and to see Scorpius, though they were still a secret, so she had to be careful about it. They agreed to meet by the Shrieking Shack and I made it my goal to try to keep her family away from them.

Aileen, on the other hand, had gotten a new boyfriend, Jackson Ravensdale, just last week, but said that she wasn't going to Hogsmeade with him and that he was getting boring. It was probably a good thing because Eric didn't seem to like him very much. It was probably because he was on the Hufflepuff quidditch team and Eric didn't want to sit with a rival… I think.

Lily had taken to sit with Hugo more, as they were planning a huge prank. I didn't get a lot of details from her, but it was set to go off after holidays. Unlike the rest of her family, Lily didn't play quidditch. She loved to watch it and knew all about it, but wasn't interested in being a player. The only thing she played were pranks along with Hugo.

Dom and Lysander seemed to be getting rather talkative while we sat together. Though they were a year apart, they bonded and looked cute together. Plus, I hoped that Lysander, with all his quirks, would be able to have Dom keep an open mind.

Everything was going well in the world of Wotters and friends.

So it was on that morning that I sat, observing my friends and reading the newspaper simultaneously. For the first time this year, I was feeling really happy. Of course, not that I was depressed before, but everything was just going my way today.

I smiled to myself as I drank from my mug of hot cocoa and turned my full attention to the Daily Prophet. Normally, there wasn't much news. After Voldemort died, the majority of big crimes disappeared. It wasn't as if we were some new peaceful society, but there were significantly less murders, crimes dealing with muggles, and because of this; less to report in the news.

Today was a bit different.

_Yesterday, a group of known ex-death eaters were found to be still active. After a vicious attack on a wizarding family with a muggleborn mother and wizard father, the aurors went to investigate and found the old symbol of the ouroboros (a snake eating its tail) over their house. Little is known about the location of the attackers, but the auror department is using their every resource to find them._

The article went on to describe more about the family, saying there were two casualties, the mother and the father, as they presumably defended themselves, and one boy, their twelve year old son, is in serious condition after being cut open in various place. The aurors think it was sectumsempra, but can't be sure until they question the boy. The other two children, two daughters, ages four and five, were unharmed and found hiding in their parents closet. The last thing that I noticed was a mark over the house. It wasn't the dark mark, strangely enough, but it consisted of a snake eating its own tail.

I was in utter shock. Since before I've been born, we haven't had to deal with anything like this and I admit that I was a little scared. Al, who was sitting right next to me, saw my expression of disgust and fear and grabbed the paper from my hands. His face darkened as he read through it and he passed it around the table to the hands of our confused friends. Each one, when they got the Daily Prophet, looked horrified.

The rest of the school day was a blur. I didn't know what was happening in classes. All I could see was the little boy and his bloody figure and the pictures of the suspected criminals. The bodies of the dead parents floated through my mind. Even though I didn't know the people, I grieved for their family. My mum and dad told me countless tales about their Hogwarts days, including their seventh year and I knew what it would be like if the Death Eaters returned, even if Voldemort was dead.

During dinner our table was silent, but the background noise of students whispering voiced our fears and thoughts one hundred percent. Almost everyone was worried about the attack and wondered if there were more to come, for muggles and wizards alike. The only exception to this was a few Slytherins whose git parents taught them about blood purity. Thankfully there were only very few.

Al kept looking at me questioningly, his eyes silently asking how I was doing. I would give him a small smile, but I knew that wasn't enough. He could see that I was worried. Worried about my family, who fought against the death eaters in the war, worried about my friends and their families. I was scared for everyone because everyone in the Great Hall at the moment was either considered a traitor to the death eaters or filth and both of those categories were prime targets.

My appetite was barely existent after hearing the news about the muggle family and word in the school was that another family was attacked this afternoon, but this time it was a wizarding family.

I got up from the benches and told everyone that I was going to the dorm. As I was walking, Rose got up and followed me. She had a hard time with this, too. Her family's prominent role in the war made them high on the target list. I hugged her hard before walking back with her to the dorms, where we both curled up in our beds and tried to sleep.

Right as I was about to drift off, Rose said in a small voice, "I'm scared, Allie."

I put out my hand, trying to comfort her and she held on to it. I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay, but I would never lie to her, so I just confessed, "I know, Rose. I know."

The next morning, the sun was shining and, though it was a little chilly, it was amazingly bright outside, which was the total opposite of the demeanor of Hogwarts right now. I pushed the two attacks to the back of my mind and focused on my date with Al. I wouldn't spoil it by worrying.

Everyone else seemed to have the same attitude as I did and they put all their energy into the appearance of me, Sophie, and Rose, who was going to secretly meet Scorpius at the Shrieking Shack.

Aileen was in charge of wardrobe. She picked out clothes that were cute and practical for the nippy air of fall.

Sophie wore a pair of simple jeans and a red, v-neck tee shirt. Over that she put on a black trench coat and some black boots to match. She wrapped a thin grey scarf around her neck to complete the outfit.

Rose had on dark wash skinny jeans, a long-sleeved grey shirt and a short sleeved black coat to go over that. She slipped on some silver flats and ran out of the dorm before the rest of us so that she could meet Scorpius without getting caught by her overly protective family members.

Aileen gleefully gave me some black skinny jeans and an ivory spaghetti strap shirt paired with a light blue cardigan and a pair of white tennis shoes to go with. I was not in the mood to traipse around in the heels that Aileen wanted me to wear.

After I was done playing dress up, I practically sprinted down to the Great Hall in anticipation of the afternoon. The only thing stopping me was Aileen, who insisted that I would get sweaty and she didn't want her cardigan that I borrowed smelling like B.O., so I had to settle for speed-walking.

I arrived at the Great Hall to find Al already there. His bright green eyes brightened when he saw me making my heart hammer in my chest. He had the same tousled hair, which he didn't even try to fix anymore, a pair of blue jeans and an open flannel shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a tee underneath it. He looked effortlessly good, like he didn't even think about what he was wearing, but I knew that wasn't true when he straightened out the wrinkles in his shirt and ran a hand nervously through his locks.

I laughed as I reached him and stopped his fidgeting by pushing his hand out of the way of his hair.

"Your hair is fine, Al. We both know it won't sit flat, so don't try. Plus, I like it that way," I told him frankly. He grinned back at me.

"You look… you look great, Allie," he said as we walked out to Hogsmeade. I blushed pink and muttered, "Thanks." Now that we were going on our date, I was kind of nervous, but excited. The butterflies were doing acrobatics in my stomach and my heart was beating quicker than normal. I couldn't wait to see what was in store for this afternoon.

If only I knew how eventful it would be.


	9. First Date

With my heart fluttering and my face feeling increasingly warm, I headed to Hogsmeade with Al. I giggled incredulously in my mind as I thought about my situation. If anyone would have told me a year ago, or even during summer, that this is where I'd be and who I'd be with, I would have died of laughter. Though now that I was here with him, I couldn't be more thrilled.

We arrived in the middle of the hustle and bustle within a few minutes. Various Hogwarts students were making their way in and out of the shops, talking loudly in groups and shopping for the latest things, or more specifically looking for the best prices on those things. The problem with Hogsmeade was that it primarily was used by Hogwarts students and didn't get many other people, therefore, the prices were extremely high and sales were a joyous occasion to behold.

As we window-shopped, Al's hand kept brushing up against mine. At first I thought it was an accident, but it continued to happened several times. On each occasion he would mumble an apology and the tips of his ears would go red. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing at his embarrassment, though I also found it endearing and cute. This little fact didn't keep me from taking the mickey out of him for it.

I huffed in fake annoyance and put my hand in my pocket. Al's eyes widened slightly.

"Ugh. Something keeps brushing against my hand. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?" I asked with mock innocence. He stammered an unintelligible reply while his ears reddened further. I burst out in a fit of guffaws.

"If you want to hold my hand," I said in between giggles, smirking at his embarrassed face, "Then hold it." His ears flushed again, but this time he took my hand in his, rubbing his thumb over it gently.

"Sorry," he apologized and then continued awkwardly. "I'm not really sure how this whole... thing works. I never date the girls that I've... well, you know." I just stood up on my tip-toes and went to kiss him on the cheek, but instead he turned his face and I kissed his lips (not that I'm complaining). This caused him to smirk and to look a little more relaxed and like his normal self, though he wore a silly, self-satisfied grin on his face.

We continued our stroll in silence until Al spoke up.

"So, where to first?" I looked from shop to shop before deciding where to go.

"How about your uncle's joke shop? I always love that place," I suggested enthusiastically.

"As you wish," he said with a melodramatic flourish of his hand. I giggled and tugged on his hand, leading him to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, feeling happy that he had obviously gotten over his previous nervousness.

Upon reaching George's joke shop, I was in awe. In fact, every time I went there, I was speechless. The place was addictive and I felt like a kid in a candy store… which I kind of was, if I wanted to have a nose bleed or an upset stomach.

There were rows of various fireworks, candy, potions and other magical mischief-making devices. He even had a small section of muggle "magic" tricks for those people who had a fascination with muggle items, such as his dad, Arthur.

I felt like I was a little child again and I had the urge to run off into the store and try out everything in sight, but I didn't want to let go of Al's warm hand.

"I know you want to look at everything, Allie," said Al looking highly amused. "Go ahead. I don't mind." I yanked on his arm.

"I will if you come with me. Please?" I put on my best puppy face. He snickered.

"You shouldn't do that," he said between snorts. "You look like a fish." I just stuck my tongue out at him like the mature person I am. Despite my "fish face" (though I still maintain that it was a puppy face), Al followed me to check out the new merchandise.

For what seemed like forever, I dragged him through aisle after aisle, examining every single item that was in the store with complete fascination. Then, in the middle of my inspection, a man's voice called out to Al.

"Albus Severus Potter," boomed a jovial voice. "You just waltz into my joke shop and don't say hello your favorite uncle." We turned around to see George trying, but not succeeding, to look stern. The corners of his mouth kept turning upwards until he couldn't hold it in anymore and he smiled brightly.

Al just scowled.

"Where? I don't see Uncle Percy here," he said mockingly. George just raised his eyebrows, not believing him for a second.

"We both know that's not true. I'm for sure you're favorite uncle. Percy is just a boring and pompous prat. Don't make me say your full name again," he threatened. I snickered silently.

"Really, Uncle Georgie-Porgie? Don't say my full name. I'm on a date," he whispered, even though I could full well hear him, and he pointed to me with his thumb. George ignored the jab at him and turned his attention to me for the first time and looked surprised to see me.

"Alice? I didn't see you there. Nice to see you again. Are you and Neville and Hannah coming over to the Burrow for Christmas this year?" he asked, making light conversation, but I could see a mischievous gleam in his eyes that meant he was formulating a plan and going to say something embarrassing about our date.

"Yeah," I nodded. "Harry invited us just last week. Mum told me in her letter," I told him warily, trying to figure out what he was planning. George nodded and then turned his full attention to Al again. He put an arm around his nephew's shoulders.

"And I see you finally agreed to give this poor bloke a chance. I must say, Allie, you could do much better. My Fred is much better looking than my nephew," George joked as Al gave him a death glare.

"I think Al looks great," I stated simply and smiled at Al. George just chuckled.

"Well, of course you do. Don't think I haven't seen you checking him out during the past few years," he informed me with a waggle of his eyebrows. I flushed furiously and stammered as I tried to get words out of my mouth.

"I was just taking the mickey out of you guys. Mostly, I'm just surprised that you_ finally_ got up the courage to ask Allie on a date. That's good. It only took you six years." Al glared at him more (Merlin, if looks could kill…), but George pretended not to notice and went on.

"But at least you did it sooner than Ron. He took seven years, the spineless git. You've got to love him though. Oh, and you didn't need to get your knickers in a twist over the whole name thing. She knows your whole name already, so you can stop worrying that she won't snog you because you have a wonky name," George finished. Al's mood perked up and he appeared smug.

"Well, actually we had this arrangement before about—," he started, but I stomped on his foot before he could tell his uncle about that embarrassing situation. Al cried out and grabbed his foot, hopping up and down. I just smiled innocently at George who was looking very amused.

"Well, it was great seeing you George. I'll be there at Christmas. Good luck with everything. Bye," I said hurriedly before dragging Al out of the store by his arm, blushing furiously.

This time, as we were out of George's sight, it was Al's turn to laugh hysterically. He was bent over with his hands clutching his stomach and sounded out of breath.

"That is so not funny, Al," I said, trying to glare at him, but he just looked so bloody gorgeous that it was really hard. I could feel my frown turning into a smile. He took a minute to contain his laughter.

"Yeah it is," he argued and then continued laughing. "Why does it matter if you practically assaulted me a few times, Allie? George doesn't care." I stuck my tongue out at him and smack him in the chest (Even though he probably didn't feel anything because his chest is rock hard. Bloody quidditch players.).

"But I do. I just don't want him, and your family for that matter, to think that's all we are. I don't want them to think that I'm just another floozy," I shrieked worriedly, truly wanting to make a good impression on his family. Even though I'd be met them countless times, this was the first time I was talking to them as Al's...

What were we? I pondered this for a second before Al put his arm around my shoulders, taking me out of my train of thought.

"They would never think that. My whole family knows that I've had a crush on you since... well, since forever, basically, so they would never think anything bad about you. Don't fret, Allie, both you and my family know how I feel about you," he reassured as if it was no big deal, but a guilty feeling came up again. I quickly shoved it aside. I really liked him, but when he brought up his feelings, I couldn't reciprocate them. After years of fighting with him, love just didn't come naturally to me.

"Plus," he continued on, "they already love you, you know that. Mum always used to try to teach us better manners whenever you used to come over when we were kids because you were so "respectful" and "courteous" and we were "embarrassing little tots that ate like pigs". It was bloody irritating." I couldn't help but smile widely and roll my eyes.

"Fine, Al, but I'm pretty sure that if they thought I was just using you for a quick snog, they wouldn't love me anymore," I said, being realistic.

"Oh, so that's why you're here?" he said with fake offense, putting a hand on his chest. I felt a grin make it's why onto my face, but I still rolled my eyes.

"No. 'Course not, but they don't know that."

"Psh, details, details. But enough of that. Why don't we head to the Three Broomsticks next, yeah?" he asked. I sighed and nodded as we moseyed on down to the Three Broomsticks.

Once inside, we squished into one side of a booth in the back of the room and ordered two butterbeers from the old landlady, Rosmerta, who inquired about Al's family and how he was doing.

A few minutes later, she handed us our drinks and then we were alone again, or at least as alone as you can be in a packed pub. The main thing was that no one was talking directly to us or sitting at our booth.

"So, Allie. I was thinking that this is going really great, but I could definitely use a little snogging time to make it better," he said smirking as he winked at me.

"Really?" I asked, deciding to have a little fun with this. I sighed dramatically. "I don't know, Al. I wouldn't want you to feel assaulted or anything." Now I was the one smirking. His face became serious and he brushed a strand of my blond hair behind my ear.

"So you don't want to?" he asked in a husky voice, his face getting closer and closer to my own. I couldn't speak and my heart pounded in my chest, so I just shook my head.

"Really?" he questioned again, letting his hand trail down my neck to my back and finally resting on my waist. It felt like a fire where ever he touched me. Again, I just nodded my head in response.

"Liar," he said, smirking. Then, before I could respond with some brilliant head nodding communication (Notice the sarcasm?) he crashed his lips onto mine. Both his hands were on my waist, pulling me towards him. I ran mine through his ever-messy, jet black hair. His tongue entered my mouth and... We were interrupted. Why in the name of Merlin does that always seem to happen?

We stopped because we heard a girl clear her throat and a boy yell, "PDA! PDA!"

"Bloody hell," I heard Al mutter under his breath. The two figures that were standing by our table were Sophie and Cole, both looking highly amused.

"I'm guessing you're enjoying your date," Cole stated, rather than asked with a smirk on his light brown face. I blushed red while Al just mumbled something along the lines of "I _was_". Cole gave an even wider smirk, that gave resemblance to the one Al usually has and Sophie was attempting to hide a smile and a snicker, but losing at that enormously.

"So, are you two enjoying your date?" I asked coyly, hoping to change the subject. Sophie turned pink, but Cole looked unashamed and put his dark, muscular arm over her shoulder.

"Obviously," he said. "I'm with the most amazing girl in Hogwarts. No offense, Allie."

"None taken," I replied and looked at the couple sitting across from us. They looked so cute and were obviously smitten. I couldn't help but smile.

"Do you guys have any plans for today?" asked Sophie. "Cole and I couldn't think of anything to do and were wonder—"

Shards of glass flying towards us as the windows broke stopped her mid-word. I could feel the glass shards cutting the right side of my face and body. Al pulled me down under the table until the windows stopped breaking and we stood up to see what was happening.

The door to the Three Broomsticks slammed open and in walked some familiar faces, wands raised. They were the ones that haunted my dreams last night, the ones that were supposed to be dead and gone, and the ones I had seen attacking that muggle family in the Daily Prophet. Death Eaters.

Their silver, shimmery masks gleamed in the light and their dark robes swayed as they silently and slowly stepped into the pub.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, seemingly frozen in place. The only things moving were the eyes of everyone in the pub, watching each move the death eaters took, ready to spring into action. Some looked terrified, their eyes searching for an escape, anyway to avoid the violence that was sure to come. Others had their hands reaching for their wands that were tucked away in pant pockets, fingers itching for a fight. For the time being we just stared at the daunting, masked figures in the door way in anticipation of what was to come.

Then all hell broke loose and the curses started to fly.


End file.
